matrilineal en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- /ˌmeɪtɹɪˈlɪnɪəl/
- /ˌmætɹɪ-/
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *méh₂tēr Proto-Italic *mātēr Latin māterder. English matri- English lineal English matrilineal From matri- + lineal. Coined by British government anthropologist Northcote Whitridge Thomas in 1904 along with patrilineal.
Meanings
-
(not-comparable) Tracing descent only through female ancestors.
Kerala traditionally has matrilineal inheritance.
This female hyena also gets erections and is larger, more aggressive than the male hyenas and lives in matrilineal clans of up to 80 individuals governed by an alpha female matriarch.
2022 June 12, Katie Hunt, “How zoology got female animals all wrong”, in CNN, archived from the original on 17 Aug 2022:Enkidu expresses the values of nature, matrilineal conservatism, and the populism of the assembly, the assembly of village elders from the days before military dictatorship.
1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 191:
Antonyms
Deriveds
matrilineally · matrilineal descent · matrilineal lineage · matrilineality · matrilinealism · nonmatrilineal · matrilineal line
Relateds
Translations (6)
ms matrilineal (Tracing descent only through female ancestors) · bg по майчина линия (Tracing descent only through female ancestors) · fr matrilinéaire (Tracing descent only through female ancestors) · es matrilineal (Tracing descent only through female ancestors) · it matrilineare (Tracing descent only through female ancestors) · fi matrilineaarinen (Tracing descent only through female ancestors)