Pronounced: mench (alt: mensh), noun
Notes: I’ve run across this word in reading, but wasn’t sure of the meaning
Yesterday’s word
The word semelparous means “reproducing or breeding only once in a lifetime”
First usage
Our word came into English in the 1950s
Background / Comments
Our word comes the Latin parts semel (once) and parere (to give birth to). The same suffix also gave us the older (1600s) words “multiparous” (producing more than one at birth), “oviparous” (producing eggs that develop outside the mother), and “viviparous” (producing living young [as opposed to eggs] from within the body).
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 