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

I have finished the Kallikak family and I am bursting with talk.

From Dear Enemy by Jean Webster

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 George Drayton Strayer

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 Jean Webster

Another family called the Kallikak family, which has been made the subject of investigation, is a still better example of heredity.

From Society Its Origin and Development by Henry Kalloch Rowe