período

Período is a term in Spanish and Portuguese describing a span of time with defined boundaries. It derives from Latin periodus, through Greek periodos, and conveys the sense of a cycle or segment within a larger continuum.

In history and everyday usage, a period marks a particular interval defined by features, events, or developments. In geology, a period is a formal subdivision of the geologic timescale, between an era and an epoch; well-known examples include the Cambrian, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods.

In science, period also refers to the time required for a repeating process to recur, such as a planet's orbital period or the period of a wave. The period is inversely related to frequency.

In medicine, especially in Spanish, periodo denotes the menstrual period, the regular bleeding phase of the female reproductive cycle, typically lasting several days and recurring roughly each month.

In writing, the term period in English denotes the punctuation mark used to end sentences; in Spanish and Portuguese the corresponding punctuation is called punto. The term is sometimes used in multilingual or technical contexts to refer to the same symbol.

Across its uses, periodo signals a bounded interval, a cycle, or a defined unit, with precise meaning depending on the domain.