basal temperature
1
5.5
- noun
- /ˈbeɪsəl ˈtɛmpərətʃər/
- Specialized
:
temperatura basal
- A fever may not be evident if only the basal temperature is considered.
Examples
-
She recorded her basal temperature every morning.
-
To track her fertility, she measured her basal temperature every morning.
-
Changes in basal temperature can indicate the onset of ovulation.
-
Measuring your basal temperature can help track ovulation.
-
Every morning, she records her basal temperature before getting out of bed to monitor her health.
-
To track her menstrual cycle accurately, she takes her basal temperature as soon as she wakes up.
-
Keeping a consistent log of her basal temperature each morning has helped her detect ovulation patterns.
Synonyms
47
1.6
The warmth of a person's or animal's body that shows if they are healthy
1
4.4
The temperature you measure right after waking and before you move or eat
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase combines 'basal' (meaning base/lowest/resting) with 'temperature' (level of heat), so the overall meaning — the body's baseline or resting temperature — is directly derivable from the constituents. Although somewhat clinical, this adjective+noun composition follows ordinary semantic composition and is cross-linguistically parallel, so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer the intended meaning (often the morning resting temperature).
Etymology
Basal temperature comes from basal meaning 'base' or 'lowest' and temperature meaning body heat, so it names the very low morning body heat measured before you get up. Doctors take this reading first thing to have a steady 'baseline', and small rises can show things like 'ovulation'.