phratry
Americannoun
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phratries
plural
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a grouping of clans or other social units within a tribe.
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(in ancient Greece) a subdivision of a phyle.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of phratry
1745–55; < Greek phrātría, equivalent to phrātr-, stem of phrātḗr clansman (akin to brother ) + -ia -y 3
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
By this device, in phratry “Dilbi,” there are two classes, “Muri” and “Kubi.”
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 2 "Fairbanks, Erastus" to "Fens" by Various
We take the former first, dealing with the clan-family and the phratry, which are together the self-maintaining unit of society, with the general relief of the poor, with hospitality, and with vagrancy.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 8 "Chariot" to "Chatelaine" by Various
In the tribal council the sachems and chiefs of each phratry are seated opposite one another, every speaker addressing the representatives of each phratry as separate bodies.
From The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State by Friedrich Engels
In this case the phratry re-appears in its original gentile capacity, and with a better prospect of success than the weaker gens, its daughter.
From The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State by Friedrich Engels
Very often the bitterest feuds existed between families within the tribe and of the same phratry, although if attacked by a stranger people all would unite for mutual protection.
From The Whale House of the Chilkat by George T. Emmons
In practice, where phratries exist, a man who knows a woman’s phratry name knows whether or not he may marry her.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 2 "Fairbanks, Erastus" to "Fens" by Various
The clans of the Aztecs, like those of many other Mexican tribes, were organized into four phratries; and this divided the city of Mexico, Aztec phratries. as the Spaniards at once remarked, into four quarters.
From The Discovery of America Vol. 1 (of 2) with some account of Ancient America and the Spanish Conquest by John Fiske
On these lines the prohibition to infringe the totem taboo by marriage within the totem name is intelligible, but the system of phratries has yet to be accounted for.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 2 "Fairbanks, Erastus" to "Fens" by Various
By phratry law, as being in opposite phratries, a Cat in Eagle Hawk’ phratry could marry a Cat in Crow phratry.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 2 "Fairbanks, Erastus" to "Fens" by Various
When the two “primary clans” made alliance and connubium, they became the phratries in the local tribe, and their colonies became the totem kins within the phratries.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 2 "Fairbanks, Erastus" to "Fens" by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
