menstruum

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin mēnstruum (“menstrual discharge”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛn.stɹʊəm/

Noun

menstruum (plural menstruums or menstrua)

1. (chiefly in the plural, historical) The menses; menstrual discharge. [from 14th c.]
2. (historical) A solvent. [from 16th c.]
   • 1665, Robert Hooke, Micrographia:

     [T]hat combustible sulphureous Body is presently prey'd upon and devoured by the aereal incompassing Menstruum, whose office in this Particular I have shewn in the Explication of Charcole.

3. Any liquid medium.

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Latin

Etymology 1

Substantive of mēnstruus (“of or pertaining to a month, monthly”), from mēnsis (“month”).

Noun

mēnstruum n (genitive mēnstruī); second declension

1. a monthly payment
2. a monthly term of office or service
3. (in the plural) menstrual discharge

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	mēnstruum	mēnstrua
Genitive	mēnstruī	mēnstruōrum
Dative	mēnstruō	mēnstruīs
Accusative	mēnstruum	mēnstrua
Ablative	mēnstruō	mēnstruīs
Vocative	mēnstruum	mēnstrua

Etymology 2

Inflected form of mēnstruus (“of or pertaining to a month, monthly”).

Adjective

(deprecated template usage) mēnstruum

1. nominative neuter singular of mēnstruus
2. accusative masculine singular of mēnstruus
3. accusative neuter singular of mēnstruus
4. vocative neuter singular of mēnstruus

References

• “menstruum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• menstruum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • monthly interest: usura menstrua
    
• “menstruum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “menstruum”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin