menarche

noun

men·​ar·​che ˈme-ˌnär-kē How to pronounce menarche (audio)
: the beginning of the menstrual function
especially : the first menstrual period of an individual
menarcheal adjective

Examples of menarche in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The only innocence lost with my menarche was realizing how cruel and complicated the world could be. Caroline Colvin, Health, 9 Mar. 2024 Early menarche is also associated with lower birth weight, as well as rapid childhood weight gain, supporting the theory that the physiology of body composition could govern the mechanism that kicks off puberty. Haley Weiss, Time, 7 Aug. 2023 First, those that cannot be easily modified: age at menarche, age at birth of first child, family history, genes like BRCA1. Richard Stevens, Discover Magazine, 21 Apr. 2015 The transformation—which occurs for the first time behind a closed bathroom door, accompanied by screams that Ming hilariously mistakes for the arrival of her daughter’s menarche—isn’t prompted only by rage. Joe Morgenstern, WSJ, 10 Mar. 2022 Two of the most notable milestones are the beginning of menstruation, or menarche, in girls and the beginning of sperm production, or spermarche, with boys. Elissa Strauss, CNN, 3 Aug. 2021 Any circumstances that led to earlier menarche would decrease the relative size of females incidentally, without any change to mating system or male-male competition level or, indeed, any rationale for the size change at all. Quanta Magazine, 8 June 2020 For most of human history, women were either pregnant or lactating almost constantly from menarche to menopause, so their immune systems were always hanging in that careful balance. Viviane Callier, BostonGlobe.com, 30 Aug. 2019

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'menarche.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

New Latin, from men- + Greek archē beginning

First Known Use

circa 1900, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of menarche was circa 1900

Dictionary Entries Near menarche

Cite this Entry

“Menarche.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/menarche. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Medical Definition

menarche

noun
men·​ar·​che ˈmen-ˌär-kē How to pronounce menarche (audio)
: the beginning of the menstrual function
especially : the first menstrual period of an individual
menarcheal adjective
or menarchal also menarchial

More from Merriam-Webster on menarche

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