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Added 10 October 2026

puerperium

/ˌpju.əˈpɪə.ɹi.əm/ noun

Latin root: puerperium Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about puerperium at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

The period of time lasting around a month immediately following childbirth, when the mother’s uterus shrinks back to its prepartum state.

Origin

Borrowed from Latin puerperium (“childbed, childbirth”), from puerpera (“woman in labor or childbed”) + -ium (nominal suffix), from puerperus (“parturient, bringing forth children”), from puer (“child, boy”) + pariō (“to bring forth, bear”) + -us (adjectival suffix).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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