- Introduction
Menarche is a socially significant event in many Sri Lankan (SL) communities, often recognised through public and semi-public rituals, commonly referred to in local lexicon as ‘big girl parties’. These ‘parties’ mark the onset of menstruation as a transition from girlhood to womanhood[1], often combining celebration with restrictions on bodily movement, social interaction, and public visibility[2]. These parties, or rituals, then can be understood as rites of passage that involve separation, transition, and incorporation into a new social identity for menstruators[3]. Yet, despite this public recognition of menarche, menstruation itself often remains linguistically concealed, socially regulated, and affectively marked by embarrassment, shame, or silence.
The present study is borne of this tension between public recognition and private concealment. As menstruation is not only a biological process but also a socially mediated experience, how menstruation is named, avoided, euphemised, joked about, or silenced shape how menstruators understand their bodies and how others respond to them. Menstrual discourse, therefore, forms a crucial part of the lived reality of menstruation – and its negative aspects call “attention to the ways that women internalise and sustain certain negative discourses”[4]
This study examines the language used to refer to menstruation among a specific group of respondents in Sri Lanka: primarily young, Sinhala- and English-speaking participants recruited through online platforms. Rather than attempting to provide a nationally representative account of menstrual discourse in Sri Lanka, the paper offers an exploratory analysis of lexical choices and semantic frames that emerged within this sample. The study is especially concerned with how euphemism, metaphor, silence, biological reduction, and pathologisation appear in the responses collected.
The study is also conscious of its limited linguistic scope. Sinhala and English are the only languages analysed here. Tamil, although an official language of Sri Lanka and central to the country’s sociocultural and linguistic landscape, is not included due to the researchers’ lack of linguistic and cultural proficiency in Tamil. As such, the study does not claim to represent Sri Lankan menstrual discourse as a whole. Instead, it examines one sub-section of such discourse and identifies patterns that may serve as a starting point for future comparative research across Sri Lanka’s languages and communities.
To this end, the paper is guided by the following research questions.
- What lexical units are used by the Sinhala- and English-speaking respondents in this study to refer to menstruation?
- What frames and frame elements are evoked by these lexical units?
- What do these frames suggest about the cultural, ideological, and affective meanings attached to menstruation within this sample?
- How might these findings inform future research and more inclusive approaches to menstrual language in education, health communication, and policy?
The paper draws on Charles Fillmore’s frame semantics to examine how words and phrases activate broader structures of meaning. A lexical unit not only names menstruation, but it also situates menstruation within particular conceptual fields, such as illness, periodicity, or fertility. By identifying these frames, this paper examines how menstrual language may reproduce or resist stigma. The approach builds on the wider cognitive linguistic understanding that “linguistic knowledge is inseparable from encyclopaedic knowledge as the language reflects the world the way it is constructed by humans”[5]
At the same time, the study recognises that language does not operate in a vacuum. Menstrual terms are shaped by social location, linguistic repertoire, age, gender, class, geography, religion, education, media exposure, and interpersonal context. For this reason, the present findings should be read as interpretive and exploratory rather than universal or even statistically generalisable.
2. Literature Review
2.1 Menstrual Discourse and Its Social Construction
Menstruation is not experienced only as a biological process; it is also shaped by the social, cultural, religious, medical, and linguistic frameworks through which it is understood. The language used to describe menstruation is therefore central to how menstrual experience is constructed. Across different societies, menstrual discourse may normalise menstruation, conceal it, pathologise it, associate it with impurity, or frame it as a marker of fertility and womanhood.
Existing research shows that menstruation is frequently treated as a taboo subject requiring indirect or coded expression. The widespread use of euphemism, metaphor, silence, humour, and avoidance reflects this. Such linguistic practices do not merely reflect stigma; they may also reproduce it by making direct reference to menstruation socially uncomfortable or inappropriate. At the same time, euphemism must be read contextually. It may function as concealment, but also as politeness, intimacy, humour, or a way of negotiating social discomfort.
Comparative studies demonstrate that menstrual discourse varies across linguistic and cultural communities. Vancauwenbergh and Franco’s cognitive linguistic study, for instance, shows that Chinese speakers tend to use polite and euphemistic expressions, German speakers are generally more direct and orthophemistic, while Dutch speakers often use humour and offensive expressions (Vancauwenbergh and Franco, 2023). These differences suggest that menstrual language cannot be understood outside the cultural contexts in which it is used. They also show that English-language menstrual discourse should not be treated as universal, since even English expressions take on different meanings across social and regional contexts.
Even medical discourse, often assumed to be neutral or objective, contributes to the social construction of menstruation. Llorens-Simón’s corpus-based study of Spanish metaphorical language demonstrates that menstruation has historically been framed through illness, pathology, impurity, and embarrassment, including in scientific and medical contexts (Llorens-Simón, 2024). This can lead menstruators to internalise menstruation as a physical infirmity rather than as part of ordinary reproductive health.
However, the relationship between scientific language and stigma is complex. Describing menstruation as a “normal” biological process through terms such as uterus, fallopian tubes, and reproductive cycle may help reduce secrecy and misinformation. Yet such language can also contribute to medicalisation, where menstruation is understood primarily as a condition requiring regulation, management, or treatment. Ford, Campbell, and Marwick’s description of the medicalisation of menstruation as a “double-edged sword” is useful here, as it shows that medical recognition can increase legitimacy and care while also risking over-regulation or pathologisation (Ford, Campbell and Marwick, 2025).
This scholarship demonstrates that menstrual language is not neutral. It shapes how menstruators relate to their bodies, how others respond to them, and how institutions frame menstrual needs. However, much existing work is located outside Sri Lanka or focuses on broader global patterns. This creates space for research into how menstrual discourse operates within specific Sri Lankan language communities.
2.2 Menstrual Language, Health Policy, and Institutional Framing
The study of menstrual discourse is especially important as language influences policy. Policy does not simply respond to social problems; it also constructs them by defining what the problem is, whose needs matter, and what solutions appear appropriate. This insight is central to Carol Bacchi’s “What’s the Problem Represented to Be?” framework, which argues that policy proposals contain implicit assumptions about the issues they seek to address (Bacchi, 2012).
In the context of menstruation, policy language determines whether menstruation is framed primarily as hygiene, health, education, gender equality, poverty, human rights, or bodily autonomy. If menstruation is framed mainly as a hygiene issue, policy may focus on sanitation, product disposal, and cleanliness. If framed as a health issue, the emphasis may shift to pain management, menstrual disorders, medical care, and reproductive health. If framed as a human rights or gender equality issue, questions of dignity, education, labour participation, bodily autonomy, and social stigma become more visible.
McAllister et al.’s analysis of global health policy documents shows that menstruation is unevenly represented across international policy spaces. Documents produced by organisations such as WHO, UNICEF, UN Women, UNFPA, UNESCO, the World Bank, and the Commission on the Status of Women variously construct menstruation as a hygiene issue, a health issue, and a human rights issue (McAllister et al., 2025). These differences matter because they shape the interventions considered legitimate.
The Menstrual Hygiene Management approach, for example, has been important in drawing attention to sanitation, menstrual product access, and school infrastructure. However, it has also been criticised for narrowing menstruation to hygiene and containment while neglecting elements such as pain management, stigma, and environmental concerns. Similarly, the Menstrual Health approach may expand the frame but can still become overly focused on products, services, or medical infrastructure if it is not attentive to social and cultural dimensions.
The literature, therefore, suggests that menstrual policy is shaped by the language used to define menstruation. Silences, euphemisms, and narrow institutional framings can make it difficult to advocate for comprehensive solutions. Olson et al.’s critical review of policy initiatives further demonstrates that efforts to break menstrual silence must address stigma and menstrual literacy together, rather than treating menstruation only as a technical problem of products or facilities (Olson et al., 2022).
For Sri Lanka, this raises an important question: how do everyday linguistic constructions of menstruation influence the way menstruation is imagined as a policy issue? Existing work on menstrual policy in Sri Lanka has addressed stigma, product access, school attendance, and discrimination, including the Centre for Poverty Analysis report on menstrual practices and policies and WaterAid/UNICEF’s Menstrual Hygiene Management in Schools in South Asia: Sri Lanka Snapshot (Centre for Poverty Analysis, 2025; WaterAid, 2018). However, less attention has been paid to the specific language through which menstruation is socially framed. The present study responds to this gap by examining Sinhala and English lexical units and the semantic frames they evoke.
2.3 Menstrual Discourse in the Sri Lankan Context
Sri Lankan menstrual discourse is shaped by cultural, religious, linguistic, gendered, and social meanings. Menstruation is often publicly recognised at menarche but subsequently treated as something to be concealed. These rituals may include celebratory elements, but they may also impose restrictions on movement, dress, behaviour, sexuality, and social visibility.
Scholarship on Sinhala cultural constructions of womanhood is important for understanding how menstruation becomes linked to purity, fertility, sexuality, and social discipline. Jayawardena’s work shows how Sinhala femininity has historically been shaped through ideals of purity, domesticity, sexual control, and moral regulation (Jayawardena, 2002). Within this framework, menstruation becomes more than a bodily process; it becomes a sign through which female sexuality and social status are interpreted and managed.
The Sinhala term “killa”, meaning pollution or impurity, illustrates the cultural association between menstruation and defilement. Beliefs that menstrual blood attracts demonic influences or pollutes religious spaces and ceremonies have historically contributed to restrictions placed on menstruating women. Although such beliefs may have weakened or may vary across communities, their linguistic and cultural traces continue to shape menstrual discourse. Sayings such as “Genu jatiya jara jatiya” — roughly, “women are the filthy kind” — further demonstrate how menstruation can become attached to broader misogynistic constructions of women’s bodies. Such expressions do not merely describe menstruation; they position women as inherently impure because of menstruation.
At the same time, menstruation has also been framed positively or semi-positively through fertility. Gunawardana’s discussion of early Buddhist and Pali textual references to utuni is useful here. The term has been interpreted in relation to “season,” “time,” or “menses,” and is often linked to fertility and reproductive readiness (Gunawardana, 1985). References to women as utuni[6] or anutuni[7] show how menstruation has historically been understood in relation to sexual availability, conception, and the possibility of bearing children.
This fertility-based framing may appear less stigmatizing than impurity-based or illness-based framings. However, its valuation of menstruation is primarily because of its connection to reproduction, narrowing menstruating bodies to fertility and procreative capacity. Such a frame may marginalise menstruators who do not wish to reproduce, cannot reproduce, experience irregular menstruation, or do not identify within normative categories of womanhood.
Recent work on menstrual practices and policies in Sri Lanka has drawn attention to stigma, discrimination, product access, and the economic dimensions of menstruation. The Centre for Poverty Analysis report, for instance, provides a useful foundation for understanding how menstrual inequality operates materially (Centre for Poverty Analysis, 2025). The Family Planning Association of Sri Lanka’s “Period Proud” initiative also reflects growing public engagement with menstrual dignity and stigma. However, the specific relationship between menstrual terminology, stigma, and policy remains underexplored. While existing studies document menstrual stigma, fewer examine how everyday language produces, sustains, or contests that stigma.
The present study, therefore, builds on Sri Lankan scholarship on gender, puberty, purity, and menstrual policy by focusing specifically on discourse. It asks how Sinhala and English lexical units used by respondents evoke cultural frames of time, fertility, illness, impurity, shame, humour, and silence.
2.4 Analytical Approaches to Menstrual Language
Research on menstrual language has used several analytical approaches, including anthropology, cognitive linguistics, metaphor analysis, semantic categorisation, corpus linguistics, and critical discourse analysis. These approaches are useful because menstruation is not only named directly; it is often expressed through indirect, metaphorical, and culturally loaded terms.
Agyekum’s study of Akan menstrual terminology analyses menstruation as a verbal taboo and identifies both positive and negative models. The positive model frames menstruation as a sign of fertility and social recognition, particularly for adolescent girls, while the negative model constructs menstruation as dirty, unpleasant, polluting, and something to be avoided (Agyekum, 2002). This distinction is valuable because it shows how menstruation can be framed ambivalently within the same cultural context.
However, as discussed above, the “positive model” must also be read critically. If menstruation is valued primarily as a marker of fertility, then its ‘positivity’ remains tied to the positive perception of the reproductive function. This is relevant to the present study, where several Sinhala and English lexical units similarly link menstruation to fertility, adulthood, and womanhood.
Boughenout’s work on conceptualisations of menstruation across genders and languages offers another useful model. By using semantic categorisation and conceptual metaphor analysis, the study identifies broader conceptual structures through which menstruation is understood in English, Arabic, and an Arabic dialect (Boughenout, 2023). This work demonstrates the value of cognitive linguistic approaches and shows that both gender and language affect how menstruation is conceptualised. Nevertheless, as with much linguistic research, the scope of languages studied remains limited, and English receives significant emphasis. This reinforces the need for research in underrepresented linguistic contexts, including Sri Lankan Sinhala and Sri Lankan English.
Sveen’s linguistic study of menstrual expressions in English and Swedish identifies ten major semantic domains shaping menstrual discourse; including blood or flow, the colour red, indisposition, antipathy, or sympathy. (Sveen, 2016). This categorisation is particularly useful for the present study because several similar domains appear in the responses collected, including periodicity, illness, colour, fertility, leakage, humour, and vagueness.
However, Sveen’s study also highlights a methodological challenge common to menstrual language research: the blending of data from scholarly works, dictionaries, blogs, forums, and everyday examples. Such a broad sample can identify rich semantic patterns, but it may make it difficult to assess who uses particular terms, in what contexts, and with what social meanings, highlighting the importance of methodological transparency in studies of menstrual discourse.
The present study draws from these approaches but uses Fillmore’s frame semantics as its primary analytical framework. Frame semantics allows the analysis to move beyond surface meaning and consider the broader knowledge structures activated by lexical units. For example, “monthly” activates a time or calendar frame; “sickness” activates a pathology frame; “big girl” activates a coming-of-age and reproductive frame; and “leak” activates a bodily malfunction or containment frame. This approach is especially appropriate because many menstrual terms are indirect. Their meanings depend not only on dictionary definitions, but also on cultural knowledge and social context.
At the same time, the present study recognises the limitations of manual frame analysis. The identification of frames is interpretive and may be influenced by the researchers’ linguistic, cultural, and theoretical assumptions. The analysis is therefore treated as exploratory rather than definitive. Future research would benefit from inter-coder reliability, participant validation, and comparison across different language communities.
2.5 Research Gap and Contributions of the Present Study
The existing literature also establishes that menstrual discourse is culturally variable and often shaped by taboo, euphemism, metaphor, silence, and medicalisation. It also shows that menstrual language has policy consequences, since it influences whether menstruation is framed as a matter of hygiene, health, rights, gender equality, or stigma. In the Sri Lankan context, existing scholarship has examined menstrual stigma, puberty rituals, product access, religious beliefs, and policy concerns, while also showing how menstruation has historically been linked to purity, fertility, sexuality, and social regulation.
However, limited research has examined the specific lexical units used to refer to menstruation among Sinhala- and English-speaking Sri Lankan respondents, or the semantic frames these terms evoke. The relationship between everyday menstrual terminology and broader cultural assumptions, therefore, remains underexplored.
The present study addresses this gap by analysing semi-structured questionnaire responses from Sinhala- and English-speaking respondents in Sri Lanka. It offers an exploratory account of how menstruation is named, euphemised, metaphorised, and silenced within this respondent group. By applying frame semantics to the collected lexical units, the study contributes to discussions of menstrual stigma, linguistic representation, gender inequality, and the need for more inclusive and context-sensitive menstrual policy.
3. Methodology
This study is based on 187 semi-structured questionnaire responses collected through WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook. The survey asked respondents to identify words and phrases used to refer to menstruation and to reflect on how such language is used in everyday contexts.
The study adopts a qualitative, exploratory design. Its aim is not to produce statistically generalisable findings, but to identify recurring lexical patterns and semantic frames within a specific respondent group. The sample consisted of Sinhala- and English-speaking participants, with 77.5% identifying as Sinhala speakers and 22.5% as English speakers. Tamil and other Sri Lankan languages were not analysed due to the researchers’ linguistic limitations.
The sample was also unevenly distributed. These limitations mean that the findings should be read as an interpretive account of this sample, rather than as a representative account of menstrual discourse in Sri Lanka.
The responses were analysed manually using Charles Fillmore’s frame semantics. Lexical units used to refer to menstruation were identified, grouped thematically, and examined for the frames and frame elements they evoked. This approach allowed the study to consider how terms for menstruation activate broader meanings relating to periodicity, reproduction, illness, impurity, humour, shame, and silence.
Because the analysis is qualitative and interpretive, the study recognises the possibility of researcher subjectivity. Future research would benefit from broader sampling, interviews or focus groups, Tamil-language inclusion, and inter-coder reliability checks.
4. Results
4.1 Overview of Respondents
A total of 187 respondents participated in the study. The majority were between the ages of 24 and 29, followed by respondents aged 18 to 23. Respondents aged 30 and above were comparatively fewer. Most respondents identified as female, while a smaller number identified as male, and one respondent identified as non-binary.
The geographic distribution of responses was uneven. A significant number of respondents were from the Western Province, especially Colombo and Gampaha. This means that the dataset reflects the language practices of a relatively specific group: predominantly young, female, Sinhala- and English-speaking, digitally connected respondents, many of whom appear to be located in or around urban centres.
4.2 Lexical Patterns
The most frequently occurring terms in the dataset were “periods” and “menses,” used by both Sinhala and English speakers. Sinhala responses also included transliterated or borrowed English forms such as “පීරියඩ්ස්” and “මෙන්සස්.” This suggests the prominence of English-derived terminology within the sample.
This strong presence of English terms may reflect the age, location, education, and social media exposure of the respondents, rather than a complete displacement of Sinhala terms across Sri Lankan society. It may also reflect code-switching practices common among bilingual or semi-bilingual speakers.
The responses revealed several broad frames through which menstruation was conceptualised. These included:
- menstruation as a biological or reproductive event;
- menstruation as a recurring or cyclical event;
- menstruation as illness or physical weakness;
- menstruation as impurity or something requiring concealment;
- menstruation as shameful or socially inappropriate;
- menstruation as humour, metaphor, or coded speech;
- menstruation as a marker of adulthood or fertility;
- menstruation as danger, leakage, or bodily malfunction;
- menstruation as something that may remain unnamed.
These frames often overlapped. A single term could evoke periodicity, shame, and euphemism simultaneously. For example, “that time of the month” refers indirectly to menstruation through cyclical time while also avoiding direct naming.
4.3 The Prevalence of Euphemism
A striking feature of the dataset was the widespread use of euphemisms. Respondents provided terms that avoided direct reference to blood, the uterus, menstruation, or the body. These euphemisms included temporal references, humorous phrases, metaphors of leakage, references to illness, and coded Sinhala or English expressions.
This suggests that menstruation remains a difficult or sensitive topic for many respondents. However, euphemism does not have only one interpretation: it may indicate shame, but it may also indicate politeness, intimacy, humour, or generational habit. The present study focuses on the stigmatizing potential of euphemism, but it recognises that future research should investigate context and speaker intention more closely.
4.4 Silence and Avoidance
Several responses suggested that menstruation is often not openly named, especially in public or mixed-gender settings. Respondents described embarrassment, discomfort, social judgment, and the perception that menstruation should not be discussed openly. This supports the view that silence is an important part of menstrual discourse within this sample.
Yet, the data also reveals contestation. Some respondents expressed a desire to speak more openly about menstruation, while others explicitly argued that menstrual language should change. Therefore, the discourse identified here is not one of total silence, but of tension between silence and speech, concealment and visibility, stigma and resistance.
5. Discussion
5.1 Menstruation as a Recurring and Predictable Cycle
The most common terms in the dataset, including “periods,” “that time of the month,” “dates,” “monthlies,” “cycle,” and their Sinhala or Sinhala-English equivalents, frame menstruation through periodicity. These lexical units foreground repetition, regularity, and predictability.
This frame has descriptive value because menstruation is often cyclical. However, it carries the risk of simplifying the menstrual experience. Not all menstruators experience regular cycles. Conditions such as Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome (PMOS), endometriosis, hormonal disorders, perimenopause, and other bodily conditions may interrupt or alter menstruation. The cyclical frame may therefore construct the “normal” menstruator as someone whose body functions according to a predictable monthly rhythm, marginalising those with irregular, painful, absent, or medically complex menstrual experiences.
At the same time, temporal euphemisms often function as indirect speech. Phrases such as “that time of the month” allow speakers to refer to menstruation without naming it directly. This suggests that menstrual language within the sample is shaped not only by biological description but also by social caution.
5.2 Menstruation as Biology and Reproduction
The second major frame identified in the data constructs menstruation through biology, fertility, and reproduction. Terms such as “utuni,[8]” “big girl time,” “ලොකු ළමයෙක් වෙලා,[9]” and other coming-of-age expressions connect menstruation to reproductive maturity, femininity, and social adulthood.
This frame is culturally significant because menarche is often treated as a transition into womanhood. However, the reproductive frame can be reductive. It risks defining menstruation primarily in relation to fertility, heterosexual marriage, and motherhood. It may also imply that menstruation is socially meaningful because it signals reproductive capacity, rather than because it is a lived bodily experience deserving dignity, care, and understanding.
Such framing can exclude or marginalise several groups: menstruators who do not want children, menstruators with fertility difficulties, trans men and non-binary menstruators, women who do not menstruate, and trans women. Therefore, while the reproductive frame is culturally powerful, it should not be treated as neutral. It carries ideological assumptions about gender, sexuality, and social expectations.
5.3 Menstruation as Illness, Weakness, or Physical Failure
Several lexical units in the dataset frame menstruation as illness or physical disorder. Sinhala phrases such as “ලෙඩ වෙලා,” “අසනීප වෙලා,”[10] and related expressions refer to menstruation through the language of sickness. Other phrases focus on pain, stomach trouble, weakness, or bodily discomfort.
This frame reflects a genuine dimension of menstrual experience: menstruation can involve pain, fatigue, nausea, heavy bleeding, mood changes, and other physical symptoms. For some menstruators, menstrual pain is severe and disabling.
However, the illness frame becomes problematic when menstruation itself is treated as a disease or defect, as such language can reproduce the idea that menstruating bodies are weak, unclean, or temporarily incapable. Historically, such assumptions have been used to restrict women’s participation in education, labour, public life, religious practice, and social decision-making.
Discourse that distinguishes between menstruation as a biological process and menstrual symptoms or disorders that require care and accommodation, on the other hand woud both reduce stigma and impact public health policy positively.
5.4 Menstruation as Impurity and Concealment
Some terms in the dataset evoke impurity or purification. These frames are culturally and religiously significant in Sri Lanka, where menstruation has historically been associated in some contexts with restrictions on movement, worship, food preparation, sexuality, and social participation.
Terms such as “මාස් ශුද්ධිය[11]” carry the idea of monthly purification, implying that menstruation involves the release of something unclean. Such language may appear traditional or ordinary, but embeds a moral judgement in the description of a bodily process.
The impurity frame contributes to menstrual concealment. If menstruation is understood as polluting, then the menstruator is encouraged to hide not only menstrual blood but also menstrual products, pain, movement, speech, and need. However, As the current sample is limited, the study cannot determine how impurity frames vary across religion, caste, ethnicity, region, or generation. Further research should examine these differences directly.
5.5 Euphemism, Metaphor, and Social Negotiation
The dataset includes a wide range of metaphors: menstruation as a visitor, friend, leak, flood, salary, gift, festival, red object, or recurring event. These terms show that menstruation is often spoken about through substitution rather than direct naming.
Euphemism is not inherently harmful. In some contexts, euphemistic language may create privacy, humour, solidarity, or emotional distance from discomfort. Friends may use coded language to communicate quickly or discreetly, while humorous terms may function as coping mechanisms. Nevertheless, when euphemism becomes the only acceptable mode of speech, it can reinforce silence. If menstruation must always be disguised, then direct discussion becomes socially marked as inappropriate. This can make it harder to discuss menstrual pain, product access, menstrual disorders, workplace needs, school absenteeism, and reproductive health.
The central issue is therefore not the mere existence of euphemism, but the lack of discursive choice. A healthy menstrual discourse would allow speakers to use humour, metaphor, direct terminology, medical vocabulary, and culturally grounded language without shame or punishment.
5.6 Menstrual Shame and Public Speech
Respondents’ reflections indicate that menstruation remains difficult to discuss openly in many settings. Some anticipated embarrassment, judgment, disgust, or discomfort if menstruation were discussed in public. Others noted that reactions depend on context, education, age, gender composition, and familiarity.
This suggests that menstrual shame is not uniform, but situational. Speech that may be acceptable among close friends may become unacceptable in classrooms, workplaces, religious settings, or mixed-gender spaces. Similarly, younger and more urban respondents may experience menstrual discourse differently from older or rural respondents.
The study, therefore, supports the conclusion that shame and silence are important features of menstrual discourse within this sample. The data reflect a complex situation: menstruation is spoken about, but often indirectly, cautiously, humorously, or within restricted social boundaries.
5.7 Gender, Agency, and Inclusivity
A significant number of respondents argued that menstrual language should change. Many wanted language that is more empowering, direct, scientific, respectful, or less shame-based. These responses indicate awareness that language plays a role in shaping bodily experience.
However, the call for “empowering” language among respondents must be handled carefully. Empowerment cannot simply mean replacing all culturally familiar terms with medical or English terms. Scientific terminology may reduce some forms of stigma, but it may also feel alienating if it is unavailable in local languages or detached from lived experience.
Similarly, inclusive language must recognise that menstruation is not experienced only by cisgender women. At the same time, in the Sri Lankan context, menstruation is often socially organised through the category of womanhood. The study, therefore, uses the term “menstruators” where appropriate, while recognising that many cultural practices discussed in the responses specifically target girls and women. Future menstrual discourse should hold both realities together: menstruation is socially feminised, but not all menstruators are women, and not all women menstruate.
5.8 Implications for Policy and Education
The findings suggest that menstrual language matters for policy, but the study does not directly analyse policy documents. Therefore, its policy implications should be treated as suggestive rather than conclusive.
The data indicate that menstrual discourse among respondents is shaped by euphemism, shame, periodicity, reproductive expectation, illness, and concealment. These frames may influence how menstruation is addressed in education, health communication, workplaces, and public policy. If menstruation is framed only as a hygiene issue, policy may focus narrowly on product disposal and sanitation. If it is framed only as a reproductive function, policy may neglect pain, dignity, mental health, gender diversity, and labour participation. If it is framed as shameful, policy may avoid direct language altogether.
Educational and policy language should therefore name menstruation clearly, remain culturally intelligible in local languages, and include different menstruating bodies.
6. Conclusion
This study examined the lexical units and semantic frames used to refer to menstruation among 187 Sinhala- and English-speaking respondents recruited through online platforms. The findings suggest that, within this sample, menstruation is commonly framed through periodicity, biology, reproduction, illness, impurity, euphemism, metaphor, and silence.
The present study’s strongest contribution lies in identifying the range of meanings through which menstruation is indirectly named and socially understood. The data show that even apparently ordinary terms such as “period” participate in broader frames of time, regularity, concealment, and bodily expectation. It also shows that menstrual language can reproduce shame by avoiding direct reference to the body, blood, pain, and lived experience. At the same time, the study’s conclusions must remain limited by its sample. For these reasons, the paper does not claim to provide a complete account of menstrual discourse in Sri Lanka. Rather, it offers an exploratory account of menstrual language within a specific respondent group and identifies patterns that warrant deeper investigation.
Future research should include Tamil-speaking communities, rural participants, older generations, non-menstruators, trans and non-binary menstruators, and respondents from diverse classes, religious, and regional backgrounds. It should also use interviews, focus groups, classroom studies, policy analysis, and inter-coder reliability methods to strengthen the validity of interpretation.
Despite its limitations, the study demonstrates that menstrual language is not trivial. The words used to name or avoid menstruation shape how menstruators understand their bodies, how others respond to them, and how institutions recognise or ignore their needs. A more inclusive menstrual discourse must therefore move beyond silence and euphemism while remaining attentive to cultural context, linguistic diversity, and bodily difference. Meaningful change requires not only new terminology, but also new conditions under which menstruation can be spoken of without shame.
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[1] Mamo and Fosket, 2009
[2] ‘Exploring Menstrual Practices and Policies: an Analysis of Menstrual Stigma, Discrimination and Access to Menstrual Products’, 2025
[3] Van Gennep, 1960, as cited in Jayawardena, 2002
[4] Matteson, 2014, p.4
[5] Cuyckens and Geeraerts, 2007, p.201
[6] In season
[7] Not in season
[8] In ‘season’
[9] ‘Become a big girl’
[10] Fallen sick/ill
[11] Monthly cleansing
Glossary of Sinhala and English Terms Used to Refer to Menstruation in Sri Lanka
- දවස ආවා (Day [has] arrived):
An implication that the period/menstruation has occurred
- අවුරුදු ඇ විත් ([Sinhala and Tamil] New Year has arrived):
Menstruation as an event/ festival that needs to be celebrated – the expression can be used either sincerely or sarcastically. It also evokes time in relation to social convention, as the SL New Year (which falls in April) is a festival that denotes the passage of time in relation to natural events, as opposed to the calendar year. The phrasing ties the biological cycle to socio-cultural markers of time, and the season of prosperity and plenty, hinting once again at the idea of fertility.
- උථුනී/ උතුනි වෙලා (season/in season):
This could refer to alternatively “season,” “time,” or “menses”. It can also mean “flowering” or “the flower has appeared.” Commentaries further clarify it as referring to menstrual blood itself. The phrase ties menstruation to ‘seasons of fertility’.
- ‘බඩු හරි’ (goods ok) :
A direct translation reads: ‘goods okay’, the implication being that something expected has come through. The underlying tone is sarcastic.
- ‘හැදුණා’ (contracted):
Creates the implication is that the person uttering the phrase has ‘got’ their period, without actually mentioning the word ‘periods’ or ‘meanses’
- ‘ලෙඩ හැදෙනවා/ලෙඩ හැදිලා/ලෙඩ වෙලා’ (getting sick/got sick/has fallen ill):
Menstruating is equated to contracting an illness.
- Kakul walin hujja panna (Urine spurted from [the] legs):
‘Hujja’ is crude Sinhala slang for urine. The phrase equates menstruation to urine secreting from the legs.
- Sanipa nati wela/අසනීප (Asaneepa) වෙලා:
Saneepa and Asaneepa are antonyms, where ‘saneepa’ means ‘in good health/condition’ and asaneepa is its opposite. ‘Saneepa nati’ is a synonym for asaneepa, with the ‘nati’ indicating the negative presence [of good health]. Here, menstruation is equated to poor health.
- මාස් ශුද්ධිය (monthly purification):
Menstruation is referred to as the monthly purification of the presumably unclean menstruating body.
- ජම්බු ගහෙන් වැටිලා/panala/ජම්බු (Fallen/Jumped from the Jave Apple Tree/Java Apples):
While not formally documented, the phrase appears to equate the appearance of menstrual blood (presumably on the behind) on the female body as similar to having fallen onto a red java apple fruit.
- ලොකු ළමයෙක් වෙලා /big girl wela ([has] become a big girl):
Creates the implication that menarche and menstruation is an indicator of adulthood.
- Attain Wela (attained):
Refers to the English phrase ‘attained (age)’ to indicate menstruation as a marker of adulthood.
- ඔසප් (Menstruation):
One of the few direct references to menstruation in Sinhala.
- Date / ඩේට්ස් (Date/Dates):
Refers to the menstruation dates
- Moon day:
The phrase links the menstrual cycle to the 29-day cycle of the moon.
- Asanipa davas (Sick days)
Refers to menstruation as a period of illness.
- Tap is leaking/leak:
Uses a metaphor of spillage which implies incontinence and constant flow.
- Opened the floodgates:
(Same as above)
- මාසික (Monthlies)
- ගෑනු ලෙඩ (Women’s diseases)
- බඩේ ලෙඩේ (disease in the stomach)
- Ambo riduna (Oh [it] hurts):
The word ‘Ambo’ here is indicative of an expression of either shock, pain, or disbelief. Ambo is used as a multifunctional discourse marker. Here Ambo riduna(pain as a verb) roughly translates to Oh, [it] hurts- as if you have been hit by something
- Mase padi awilla/Masse padiya (Monthly salary has been remitted/ Monthly salary):
Trade/commercial-based euphemism which equates menstruation to financial gain
- Blood moon
Refers to menstruation in relation to the lunar cycle.
- I have got my bonus
- මාසික දීමනාව (Monthly Bonus)
- බඩ රිදෙනවා /බඩේ අමාරුව හැදෙනවා (Stomach hurts/ Getting a stomach pain)
- Wadiwiyata path wela (attained adulthood):
‘Wadiwiya’ or adulthood here refers to menarche; therefore the entire phrase means ‘attained/reached menarche’.
- Ticket [eka adila]:
In the local context, this phrase implies that you have won the lottery. A ticket here does not mean a ticket required to enter an event/place. The framing of menstruation here is generally interpreted as being sarcastic in tone.
- මල්වර වෙනවා:
Another euphemism that refers to menarche. It roughly translates to ‘blooming’.
- වැඩේ වෙලා :
Direct translation of ‘වැඩේ’ is ‘task/job’, but here the phrase ‘වැඩේ වෙලා’ pragmatically means ‘there we go, it has happened’, with the implication being that menstruating is a burden.
- Monthly payment
A recurring ‘payment’ related to femininity. Who is being paid is not made clear.
- Tank broke
Menstruation here is represented as a failing of the uterus which ‘contains’ the uterine lining being discharged.
- Mother Nature’s gift
Assumed here to have sarcastic undertones.
- Anna giya (There it [menstrual blood] goes)
Menstruation is represented as similar to incontinence, or the loss of bodily control.
- Red Flag Week
A symbol of danger and a visual representation of menstrual blood.
- Fever
Positions menstruation as an illness.
- වනිතා වාසනා (Female fortune):
Roughly translated to ‘women’s fortune’, the phrase refers to a women’s saving scheme introduced by the state-owned People’s Bank of Sri Lanka.
Sandunlekha Ekanayake and Theruni Liyanage
This article was originally published in Centre for Development Policy and Practice, Special Issue 1, 2026
