phratry

[ frey-tree ]

/ ˈfreɪ tri /

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noun, plural phra·tries.

a grouping of clans or other social units within a tribe.

(in ancient Greece) a subdivision of a phyle.

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Origin of phratry

1745–55; <Greek phrātría, equivalent to phrātr-, stem of phrātḗr clansman (akin to brother) + -ia-y³

OTHER WORDS FROM phratry

phratric, phratral, phra·tri·ac, phra·tri·al, adjectivesub·phra·try, noun, plural sub·phra·tries.

Words nearby phratry

phrase structure, phrase-structure grammar, phrase-structure rule, phrase structure tree, phrasing, phratry, phreak, phreaking, phreatic, phreatic zone, phreatophyte

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use phratry in a sentence

A man of the Emu phratry marries a woman of the Kangaroo phratry, and to that phratry her children belong.
The Secret of the Totem|Andrew Lang
Thus members of either phratry must be found in any casual knot or company of natives.
The Secret of the Totem|Andrew Lang
Within each phratry there are, again, kinships also known by hereditary names of animals or plants.
The Secret of the Totem|Andrew Lang
In phratry Kupathin are Ipai (male) and Kumbo (male), while the women bear the feminine forms of these names.
The Secret of the Totem|Andrew Lang

Where totem and phratry names only exist, a man has merely to ask a woman, "What is your phratry name?"
The Secret of the Totem|Andrew Lang

British Dictionary definitions for phratry

phratry

/ (ˈfreɪtrɪ) /

noun plural -tries

anthropol a group of people within a tribe who have a common ancestor

Derived forms of phratry

phratric, adjective

Word Origin for phratry

C19: from Greek phratria clan, from phratēr fellow clansman; compare Latin frāter brother

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