subfamily

American  

[suhb-fam-uh-lee, -fam-lee, suhb-fam-uh-lee, -fam-lee] / sʌbˈfæm ə li, -ˈfæm li, ˈsʌbˌfæm ə li, -ˌfæm li /

noun

subfamilies plural

1. Biology. a category of related genera within a family.

2. Linguistics. (in the classification of related languages within a family) a category of a higher order than a branch.

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subfamily British  

/ ˈsʌbˌfæmɪlɪ /

noun

1. biology a taxonomic group that is a subdivision of a family

2. any analogous subdivision, as of a family of languages

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subfamily Scientific  

/ sŭb′făm′ə-lē /

1. A subdivision of a family of organisms, containing one or more genera. The names of subfamilies in the animal kingdom typically end in –inae, as in Cerambycinae, a subfamily of the longhorn beetle family Cerambycidae.

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• subfamilies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of subfamily

First recorded in 1825–35; sub- + family

Example Sentences

Some hematophages are well-known: For example, vampire bats in the subfamily Desmodontinae helped inspire the legendary monsters that bear their name and no one can forget blood-sucking mosquitoes and leeches.

From Salon • Oct. 31, 2024

Aqp10 belongs to the aquaglyceroporin subfamily of water channels.

From Science Daily • Dec. 21, 2023

Horticulturist Qiang Xu of Huazhong Agricultural University in China and his colleagues recently set out to map the evolutionary journey of the orange subfamily.

From Scientific American • Oct. 11, 2023

It describes a large and geographically widespread subfamily of African languages that make up part of the larger Niger-Congo language family.

From Textbooks • Apr. 19, 2023

Even the Semitic subfamily itself is mainly African, 12 of its 19 surviving languages being confined to Ethiopia.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond