Etymograph

English

amenorrhoea

Amenorrhoea comes from Ancient Greek μήν ‘month’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *mḗh₁n̥s.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mḗh₁n̥s1‘moon, month’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*méns1‘month’reconstructed
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEμήν2‘month’
  4. Englishtodayamenorrhoea2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek μήν
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English amenorrhoea

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mḗh₁n̥sWiktionary, Ancient Greek μήν‘moon, month’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*ménsWiktionary, Ancient Greek μήν‘month’reconstructed
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEμήνWiktionary, English amenorrhoea‘month’
  4. EnglishtodayamenorrhoeaWiktionary, English amenorrhoea

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- ‘to measure’

measure, moral, meal, meter, dimensional, dimension, metric, moody, metre, immense, meta, mesa, asymmetry, commensurate, madder, metrology, mensa, mete, metis, metra, firman, moodiness, 63 more

through Proto-Indo-European *mḗh₁n̥s ‘moon, month’

month, moon, sunny, menstrual, menses, 6 more

Today it means

noun Absence of menstrual discharge.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “amenorrhoea”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Ancient Greek μήν. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *mḗh₁n̥s / amenorrhoea

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