Wikipedia's first sentence called it “form of impurity”. Today it says “concept in many cultures and religions that a new mother is in a state of uncleanliness for a period of time af”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2025 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2025
Social or religious concept Etching (Germany, c. 1731) illustrating the uncleanliness of the mother after giving birth, according to Jewish law. The Book of Leviticus states that a mother should be considered unclean for 40 days after giving birth to a boy and for 80 days after giving birth to a girl. The scene shows a mother in bed eating, surrounded by women and children. Her baby is rocked in a crib. In the foreground, three children ladle water from a jar. In the background is a tented community. Impurity after childbirth is the concept in many cultures and religions that a new mother is in a state of uncleanliness for a period of time after childbirth, requiring ritual purification . Practices vary, but typically there are limits around what she can touch, who she can interact with, where she can go, and what tasks she can do. Some practices related to impurity after childbirth, such as seclusion, overlap with the more general practice of postpartum confinement .
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1292098435.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Impurity after childbirth is a form of impurity, primarily found in Abrahamic religions, that begins after a woman has given birth.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 643648542.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Etching (Germany, c. 1731) illustrating the uncleanliness of the mother after giving birth, according to Jewish law.The Book of Leviticus states that a mother should be considered unclean for 40 days after giving birth to a boy and for 80 days after giving birth to a girl.The scene shows a mother in bed eating, surrounded by women and children.Her baby is rocked in a crib.In the foreground, three children ladle water from a jar.In the background is a tented community. Impurity after childbirth is a form of impurity, primarily found in Abrahamic religions , that begins after a woman has given birth. It is connected to the seclusion imposed by the expectations of postpartum confinement .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 961346114.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Etching (Germany, c. 1731) illustrating the uncleanliness of the mother after giving birth, according to Jewish law. The Book of Leviticus states that a mother should be considered unclean for 40 days after giving birth to a boy and for 80 days after giving birth to a girl. The scene shows a mother in bed eating, surrounded by women and children. Her baby is rocked in a crib. In the foreground, three children ladle water from a jar. In the background is a tented community. Impurity after childbirth is the religious or cultural belief that a new mother is in a state of uncleanliness or pollution, requiring ritual purification .It is connected to the seclusion imposed by the expectations of postpartum confinement , and more broadly to the taboos around menstruation and bleeding .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1157505080.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “form of impurity”. Today it says “concept in many cultures and religions that a new mother is in a state of uncleanliness for a period of time af”. Read the current article and compare.
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2015, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
form of impurity
Now
concept in many cultures and religions that a new mother is in a state of uncleanliness for a period of time af
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
