polygyny
English
Etymology
From Ancient Greek πολύ (polú, “many”) + γυνή (gunḗ, “woman, wife”); synchronically, poly- + -gyny.
Pronunciation
Noun
polygyny (countable and uncountable, plural polygynies)
- The state or practice of having several wives at the same time; plurality of wives; marriage to several wives.
- 1883, Herbert Spencer, The Principles of Sociology, page 685:
- We may infer that in most cases where polygyny exists, monogamy co-exists to a greater extent, and in all other cases to a considerable extent.
- The condition of an ant colony that has multiple egg-laying queens.
Antonyms
Hypernyms
Coordinate terms
Derived terms
Translations
plurality of wives at the same time
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Categories:
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English terms prefixed with poly-
- English terms suffixed with -gyny
- English 4-syllable words
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- en:Family
- en:Marriage
- en:Polyamory