Para

Any woman who has given birth once or more is termed a "para." Note that, for a pregnancy to count as a "birth", it must go to at least 20 weeks' gestation (the mid-point of a full-term pregnancy) or yield an infant that weighs at least 500 grams, irrespective of whether the infant is liveborn or not. A woman who is para I (a primipara) has given birth once; a woman who is para II has given birth twice; and so on. The term "para" comes from the Latin "pario", to bring forth or bear.

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A woman who has given birth to one or more infants. P. followed by a roman numeral or preceded by a Latin prefix (primi-, secundi-, terti-, quadri-, etc.) designates the number of times a pregnancy has culminated in a single or multiple birth; e.g., p. I, primipara, a woman who has given birth for the first time; p. II, secundipara, a woman who has given birth for the second time to one or more infants. Cf.:gravida. [L. pario, to bring forth]

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number of pregnancies producing viable offspring

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para 'par-ə n, pl par·as or par·ae 'par-.ē a woman delivered of a specified number of children used in combination with a term or figure to indicate the number <multipara>{{}}<a 36-year-old para 5> compare GRAVIDA

para 'par-ə adj

1) relating to, characterized by, or being two positions in the benzene ring that are separated by two carbon atoms

2) of, relating to, or being a diatomic molecule (as of hydrogen) in which the nuclei of the atoms are spinning in opposite directions

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(parґə) [L. parere to bring forth, to bear] a woman who has produced viable young regardless of whether the child was living at birth. Used with Roman numerals to designate the number of pregnancies that have resulted in the birth of viable offspring, as para 0 (none—nullipara), para I (one—primipara), para II (two—secundipara), para III (three—tripara), para IV (four—quadripara), etc. Since the number indicates how many pregnancies, a multiple birth counts as just one in the calculation. Symbol P. Cf. gravida.