Etymologically
Log in

hierarchy

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 21:34. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • /ˈhaɪ.ə.ɹɑː(ɹ).ki/, /ˈhaɪ.ɹɑː(ɹ).ki/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English ierarchie, gerarchie,[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French ierarchie, jerarchie (modern hiérarchie),[2][5][3] from Medieval Latin hierarchia,[4][6][7] also written ierarchia,[2][8] from Ancient Greek ἱεραρχία (hierarkhía, “the rule of a high priest”),[5][6][9] from ἱεράρχης (hierárkhēs, “high priest, steward of sacred rites”),[2][3][10] a compound of ἱερός (hierós, “sacred, holy”) and -άρχης (-árkhēs, “ruling, ruler”).[3][9][11] The OED explains that the initial Greek i- was treated as a consonant in Late Latin, which gave the j- and g- of the Romance and Middle English forms;[2] Hoad and the Shorter Oxford note that these were replaced by Latinized forms with h- in the 16th century,[3][7] and Barnhart finds the h- before 1450.[10] Merriam-Webster compares other names of forms of government made in the same way, such as monarchy, oligarchy and anarchy.[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Each of the three divisions of angels in the system of Dionysius the Areopagite, every one made up of three orders; also, the angels as a whole: c. 1380, in the English Wycliffite Sermons.[2][7] Etymonline also dates the word to the late 14th century.[5]

Semantic evolution

Merriam-Webster traces how the sense moved down from the angels to the priesthood and then to secular government, to the ranking of people by ability or by social and economic standing, and finally to any ordered series of objects or values.[11] The general sense "rule, dominion" appears as early as 1390, in Gower, but soon became obsolete.[2] Priestly rule, or a system of church government, is recorded from 1563, in Foxe's Actes and Monuments,[2][3] and the body of clergy ranked in grades from 1620.[2][9] The sense of any group of persons or things ranked one above another, including the classifications of natural science and logic, is first recorded in Milton's Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce (1644).[2][10] Etymonline dates the sense "ranked organization of persons or things" to the 1610s, first of the clergy,[5] and both Etymonline and Barnhart suggest it was helped by a popular association with the unrelated higher.[5][10] Johnson (1755) defined it as a sacred government, a rank or subordination of holy beings.[12]

Timeline

  • c. 1380 – each of the three divisions of angels.[2]
  • 1390 – rule or dominion in general (obsolete).[2]
  • 1398 – of other beings ranked in orders, in John Trevisa.[2]
  • 1563 – priestly rule; a system of church government.[2]
  • 1620 – the body of clergy ranked in grades.[2]
  • 1644 – any body of persons or things ranked one above another.[2][10]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A system in which people or groups are ranked one above another according to status or authority: She rose quickly through the company's hierarchy.
  2. The people at the top of such a system, who hold authority within an organization.
  3. Any arrangement of things in a graded series or order, such as the classification of plants and animals into classes, orders and families.
  4. The body of clergy organized in graded ranks; church government by such a body.
  5. (theology) Each of the three divisions of angels in the traditional ranking of heavenly beings; the angels as a whole.
  6. (linguistics, mathematics) A formal structure, usually drawn as a diagram of connected nodes, with a single top node.

Word family

  • antihierarchy
  • hierarchism

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  9. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  10. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  11. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.