subfamily

[ suhb-fam-uh-lee, -fam-lee, suhb-fam-uh-lee, -fam-lee ]
See synonyms for subfamily on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural sub·fam·i·lies.
  1. Biology. a category of related genera within a family.

  2. Linguistics. (in the classification of related languages within a family) a category of a higher order than a branch.: Compare branch (def. 8), family (def. 16).

Origin of subfamily

1
First recorded in 1825–35; sub- + family

Words Nearby subfamily

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How to use subfamily in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for subfamily

subfamily

/ (ˈsʌbˌfæmɪlɪ) /


nounplural -lies
  1. biology a taxonomic group that is a subdivision of a family

  2. any analogous subdivision, as of a family of languages

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for subfamily

subfamily

[ sŭbfăm′ə-lē ]


  1. A subdivision of a family of organisms, containing one or more genera. The names of subfamilies in the animal kingdom typically end in -inae, as in Cerambycinae, a subfamily of the longhorn beetle family Cerambycidae.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.