phratry

phra·try  (frtr)

n. pl. phra·tries

1. A kinship group constituting an intermediate division in the primitive structure of the Hellenic tribe or phyle, consisting of several patrilinear clans, and surviving in classical times as a territorial subdivision in the political and military organization of the Athenian state.

2. Anthropology An exogamous subdivision of the tribe, constituting two or more related clans.

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[Greek phrtri, from phrtr, phrtr-, fellow member of a clan; see bhrter- in Indo-European roots.]

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phratric adj.

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phratry [ˈfreɪtrɪ]

n pl -tries

(Social Science / Anthropology & Ethnology) Anthropol a group of people within a tribe who have a common ancestor

[from Greek phratria clan, from phratēr fellow clansman; compare Latin frāter brother]

phratric  adj

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phratry

1. a subdivision of an ancient Greek tribe or phyle.
2. a clan or other unit of a primitive tribe.

See also: Anthropology, Greece and Greeks, Society

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

phratry - people descended from a common ancestor; "his family has lived in Massachusetts since the Mayflower" family line, kinfolk, kinsfolk, sept, folk, family people - members of a family line; "his people have been farmers for generations"; "are your people still alive?" homefolk - the people of your home locality (especially your own family); "he wrote his homefolk every day" house - aristocratic family line; "the House of York" dynasty - a sequence of powerful leaders in the same family gens, name - family based on male descent; "he had no sons and there was no one to carry on his name" blood line, bloodline, ancestry, lineage, pedigree, stemma, line of descent, parentage, blood, origin, descent, stock, line - the descendants of one individual; "his entire lineage has been warriors"