What does amenorrhea mean?
Amenorrhea is the medical term for the absence of menstrual periods in a woman who would normally be expected to menstruate. It is classified as primary when menstruation has never begun — typically defined as no period by age fifteen — and secondary when previously established periods stop for three months or longer. Far from being a disease in itself, amenorrhea is a symptom with many possible causes: pregnancy and breastfeeding are the most common reasons for secondary amenorrhea, while hormonal disorders, significant weight loss, excessive exercise, stress, and certain medications account for many other cases. Physicians treat it as an important diagnostic clue, since persistent amenorrhea can signal underlying endocrine problems and can affect bone density and fertility. The word appears almost exclusively in clinical and health-literature contexts, and it is spelled amenorrhoea in much British medical writing. Understanding the term helps patients interpret diagnoses and ask informed questions about reproductive health.
nounThe abnormal absence or suppression of menstruation in a woman of reproductive age, either when periods have never begun (primary) or when they have stopped for three or more months after previously occurring (secondary).
- The abnormal absence of menstrual periods in a woman of reproductive age, classified as primary (periods never begun by age 15) or secondary (previously regular periods cease for three or more months).
"Intense athletic training and very low body weight can lead to amenorrhea in young women."
"After months of marathon training on a restricted diet, the athlete developed amenorrhea and was referred to a sports-medicine specialist."
"Pregnancy is the most common cause of secondary amenorrhea, so it is usually ruled out first before further testing begins."
Rarely pluralized in practice; clinicians typically discuss amenorrhea as an uncountable condition rather than counting instances of it.
"The clinic's records noted several distinct cases of amenorrheas among adolescent patients that year."
Amenorrhea was once so feared that ancient Greek physicians linked it to 'suffocation of the womb' — a diagnosis that persisted in medicine for over two thousand years.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of amenorrhea
Amenorrhea derives from Greek roots: 'a-' meaning without, 'men' meaning month, and 'rheia' meaning flow, literally describing a state of no monthly flow. The term entered English medical vocabulary in the late seventeenth century as physicians adopted Greek-derived nomenclature for menstrual disorders. It belongs to a family of related coinages built on the same roots, including dysmenorrhea (painful menstruation), menorrhagia (heavy bleeding), and oligomenorrhea (infrequent periods), all of which use the Greek suffix '-rrhea' denoting flow. The British variant spelling amenorrhoea preserves the more literal transliteration of the Greek rho.
How amenorrhea is actually used
A clinical term used almost exclusively in medical contexts; it is not a word encountered in everyday conversation. In British medical literature the spelling is often 'amenorrhoea', reflecting the traditional British rendering of Greek -rhoia. The word carries no emotional connotation itself but is associated with clinical discussion of fertility, hormonal health, and conditions such as the female athlete triad.
Easily confused with amenorrhea
Dysmenorrhea is painful menstruation, whereas amenorrhea is the absence of menstruation altogether.
Menopause is the natural, permanent end of menstruation typically occurring around age 50, while amenorrhea is an abnormal cessation or absence of periods during the reproductive years.