polygyny
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Ancient Greek πολύ (polú, “many”) + γυνή (gunḗ, “woman, wife”). By surface analysis, poly- + -gyny.
Pronunciation
[edit]- IPA(key): /pəˈlɪd͡ʒ.ɪ.ni/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Noun
[edit]polygyny (countable and uncountable, plural polygynies)
- The state or practice of a man having more than one wife at a time; plurality of wives; marriage between one man and multiple wives.
- Antonyms: monogyny; monogamy
- Hypernym: polygamy
- Coordinate terms: oligogyny; bigamy; polyandry, oligandry
- 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.
- (botany) Synonym of polygamy.
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]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
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- en:Botany
- en:Family
- en:Marriage
- en:Polyamory