climacteric

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
climacteric /klʌɪˈmakt(ə)rɪk, ˌklʌɪmakˈtɛrɪk/

▶noun

• 1 a critical period or event.

• 2 Medicine the period of life when fertility is in decline; (in women) the menopause.

• 3 Botany the ripening period while still on the tree of certain fruits such as apples, involving increased metabolism.

▶adjective

• 1 having extreme and far-reaching implications or results; critical.

• 2 Medicine & Botany relating to or undergoing a climacteric.

– origin C16: from Fr. climactérique or via L. from Gk klimaktērikos, from klimaktēr ‘critical period’, from klimax ‘ladder, climax’.