Why do they call a woman's period a period and not a frequency?

Question

I asked this in Woman's Health, but they had no clue.

Ok, very interesting info, lithium deuteride. I appreciate the frequency calculation. However, from some of the other contributors and from my own personnal experience, the woman's period can have a phase lag, which in turn, implies a variable frequency. If beabria is correct, and I tend to believe her, there is actually a superposition of a waveform during the intermittent bleeding cycle. Perhaps this is the basis for the phase lag? Or should we consider the actual woman's period a set of pulsed variable frequencies?

Answer 1

It just wouldn't sound right. Can you imagine saying, "My wife's having her frequency, so I might as well go fix the lawnmower?"

Answer 2

In science terms, a period is a duration of time it takes for a process to repeat. They aren't using the scientific definition. Additionally, menstruation is not precisely regular. It may happen every 28 days on average, but there is significant variance of the length of a particular cycle.

You could, however, assign the menstrual period a period of 28 days, which would give it a frequency of 4.13 * 10^-7 Hertz.

Answer 3

Because a woman's period refers to the period of time during which she is bleeding, not to the cycle, so it's a different use of the word period. A period of time can not have a frequency, although the whole cycle can and usually does.

Answer 4

Because it refers to a period of time.

Answer 5

It happens periodically, but not frequently.

Answer 6

it's a shortened version of "menstrual period"

Answer 7

Because- :-)