polygyny
English
Etymology
From Ancient Greek πολύ (polú, “many”) + γυνή (gunḗ, “woman, wife”); synchronically, poly- + -gyny.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /pəˈlɪd͡ʒ.ɪ.ni/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
Noun
polygyny (countable and uncountable, plural polygynies)
- The state or practice of having several wives at the same time; plurality of wives; marriage to several wives.
- 1883, Herbert Spencer, The Principles of Sociology, page 685:
- We may infer that in most cases where polygyny exists, monogamy co-exists to a greater extent, and in all other cases to a considerable extent.
-
- The condition of an ant colony that has multiple egg-laying queens.
Antonyms
- monogamy
- monogyny
- oligogyny
- polyandry
Hypernyms
- polygamy
Coordinate terms
- bigamy
Derived terms
- polygynist
- polygynous
Translations
plurality of wives at the same time
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