stirps

[ sturps ]

/ stɜrps /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR stirps ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural stir·pes [stur-peez] /ˈstɜr piz/.

a stock; family or branch of a family; line of descent.

Law. a person from whom a family is descended.

Biology Now Rare. a family, superfamily, or permanent variety.

Nearby words

stirling engine, stirling's formula, stirlingshire, stirp, stirpiculture, stirps, stirrer, stirring, stirringly, stirrup, stirrup bone

Origin of stirps

1675–85; < Latin: rootstock, trunk

Definition for stirps (2 of 2)

stirp

[ sturp ]

/ stɜrp /

noun Anthropology.

a line of descendants from a common ancestor.

Origin of stirp

1495–1505; < Latin stirp-, stem of stirps stirps

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for stirps

The principal characters of the story, belonging to the stirps Muciana, are purely imaginary.
Quintus Claudius, Volume 1 of 2|Ernst Eckstein
Among the Iroquois descent was never reckoned through the male line, the stirps being always a woman.
The Life and Times of Kateri Tekakwitha|Ellen H. Walworth
Some took the additional name from the stirps instead of from the gns, that is, from the cognmen instead of from the nmen.
The Private Life of the Romans|Harold Whetstone Johnston

British Dictionary definitions for stirps

stirps

/ (stɜːps) /

noun plural stirpes (ˈstɜːpiːz)

genealogy a line of descendants from an ancestor; stock or strain

botany a race or variety, esp one in which the characters are maintained by cultivation

Word Origin for stirps

C17: from Latin: root, family origin

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