Kallikak

American  

[kal-i-kak] / ˈkæl ɪˌkæk /

noun

1. the fictitious name of an actual family that was the focus of a sociological study: one branch of feeble-minded descendants were mostly social degenerates, while another branch with descendants of normal intelligence were mostly successful.

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Etymology

Origin of Kallikak

< Greek kalli- calli- + kak- ( see caco-)

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Kallikak

Both clans were descendants of Martin Kallikak, a soldier in the Revolution.

From Time Magazine Archive

The studies of the Edwards family on one hand and the so-called Kallikak family on the other, point to the same conclusion.

From How to Teach by Strayer, George Drayton

It happened that the ancestor of the Kallikak family, after he had sown his wild oats, married well and had about five hundred descendants.

From Society Its Origin and Development by Rowe, Henry Kalloch

If you are really hurt, I will read the Kallikak book; but I must tell you that you are working me to death.

From Dear Enemy by Webster, Jean

Won't you please expunge that unfortunate fifteen minutes at the porte-cochere last June, and remember instead the fifteen hours I spent reading the Kallikak Family?

From Dear Enemy by Webster, Jean