20:41 Apr 8, 2011 

It's a minor thing, but every dictionary that I have shows childbearing (no hyphen) as the correct spelling.

19:52 Apr 8, 2011 

There's a certain looseness, even in the scientific literature, in the use of the various terms related to ovum production and fertilization. There's also a debate about whether there is actually any looseness: http://humrep.oxfordjournals.org/content/20/10/2669.full.pdf... :-)

19:34 Apr 8, 2011 

between child-bearing age and fertile age - or the two Norwegian terms...

19:32 Apr 8, 2011 

.

19:30 Apr 8, 2011 

In addition to my source (written by a medical expert), there are plenty of uses for "befruktningsdyktig alder" in the female context at http://tinyurl.com/6avozbu.

19:23 Apr 8, 2011 

The more I think about it, the more I think that only a male can be befruktningsdygtig and a female fruktbar ... but if the context suggests otherwise, I guess I must be wrong.

19:21 Apr 8, 2011 

I would use the hyphen as well. It's human females at issue here, so child-bearing is appropriate. And your thinking about the possible male context (while indeed valid but quite rare, I think) just shows that you may have caught the over-thinking virus from me. ;-)

19:10 Apr 8, 2011 

I would write child-bearing ... it's OK about the points...you got the answer you needed, that's what's important.
However, the reason I deleted it was that I was suddenly in doubt. I thought perhaps fruktbar applied to the female, and befruktningsdygtig to the male ... also, what species are we talking about?

18:07 Apr 8, 2011 

Sometimes you can't see the forest...

Not like Diarmuid to be all shy ;-)

17:49 Apr 8, 2011 

Your answer was spot on -- please come back with it so I can select it.