milk leg

1 9.9

A painful swelling in the leg after childbirth caused by a blood clot

noun
/mɪlk lɛg/

Archaic

: pierna de leche

In the past, milk leg was a common but dangerous postpartum complication.

Examples

She developed a painful milk leg after giving birth.
After giving birth, she was diagnosed with milk leg due to severe pain and swelling.
The patient sought treatment for milk leg, a condition now rare thanks to modern medicine.
Many women experience milk legs during postpartum recovery.
After giving birth, she developed milk leg, causing her significant discomfort.
Many women experience milk leg during their recovery from childbirth, leading to swelling in one leg.
She visited the doctor because her milk leg made it difficult to walk after her delivery.

Synonyms

white leg

vsmilk leg

Archaic

9.8

A painful swelling in the upper leg caused by a blood clot after giving birth

is the same condition but referred to by another name

phlegmasia alba dolens

vsmilk leg

Specialized

9.9

Painful swelling and pale color of a leg from a blood clot, often after childbirth

focuses on painful swelling without the skin turning pale

Surface Forms

milk leg singular

milk legs plural

Morphology

milk + leg

The phrase names a specific postpartum medical condition (thrombosis of the femoral vein) that is not inferable from the basic senses of 'milk' (a white liquid) and 'leg' (a limb). Although 'milk' may hint at childbirth/lactation for some speakers, that historical/medical link is specialized and not predictable for an average B1 learner who only knows the constituent words.

Etymology

Milk leg may come from old times when women who had just given birth and were feeding babies often got a painful, swollen leg. People thought the problem was linked to the mother's milk, so the name milk leg came to mean a dangerous leg swelling 'after childbirth' today.