Menopause

Menopause is the permanent cessation of reproductive fertility occurring some time before the end of the natural lifespan. The term was originally coined to describe this reproductive change in human females, where the end of fertility is traditionally indicated by the permanent stopping of monthly menstruation or "menses." The word "menopause" literally means the "end of monthly cycles" from the Greek words pausis (cessation) and the word root men from mensis meaning (month).
In humans, the ending of the reproductive cycles is a biological process that most women first notice in their mid-forties. During this transition, the ovaries start producing lower levels of natural sex hormones—estrogen and progesterone. Estrogen promotes the normal development of a woman’s breasts and uterus, controls the cycle of ovulation (when an ovary releases an egg into a fallopian tube), and affects many aspects of a woman’s physical and emotional health. Progesterone controls menstruation and prepares the lining of the uterus to receive the fertilized egg.[1]
The meaning of the word menopause has in more recent times been expanded to indicate the permanent but naturally occurring discontinuation of female fertility in many other species, even if the females of those species do not have menstrual cycles.