patriarchy

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin patriarchia (“office of a patriarch; patriarchal see”) and its source borrowed from Byzantine Greek πατριαρχία (patriarkhía, “office of a patriarch”),^[2][3][4][5] from Ancient Greek πατριάρχης (patriárkhēs, “patriarch”), the source of patriarch, with the suffix that gives -y.^[2][6][5][7] The OED compares -archy, and notes that the Byzantine Greek word was used of the Christian church from the 6th or 7th century and of the headship of a Jewish community from the 4th.^[2] In its social sense the English word was, according to the OED, apparently formed anew in the 19th century; it compares French patriarchie, recorded in that sense from 1849.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A province or see governed by a patriarch of the church: 1561, in Thomas Norton's translation of Calvin's Institution of Christian Religion.^[2][5][7] Etymonline dates it to the 1560s, with the further sense of church government by patriarchs.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The church senses grew to include the patriarch's residence and staff (1622) and his office or jurisdiction (1641–57, now obsolete);^[2] Johnson (1755) knew only this meaning, defining the word as the jurisdiction of a patriarch, a patriarchate.^[8] The social sense, a system of society in which the father or eldest male heads the family and descent is traced through the male line, appears in Bacon, before 1626,^[2] or in the 1630s according to Etymonline;^[7] the Oxford Dictionary of English dates it to the mid 17th century.^[4][3] From 1868 a patriarchy could also be a society organized in that way.^[2][5] The modern feminist sense, the dominance of men in positions of power, with cultural values that favour men and often with a disapproving tone, is recorded from 1970.^[2][5]

Timeline

• 1561 – a patriarchal province or see.^[2][5]
• 1622 – the residence or staff of a patriarch.^[2]
• before 1626 – a social order in which the father or eldest male heads the family.^[2]
• 1641 – the office or jurisdiction of a patriarch (obsolete by 1657).^[2]
• 1868 – a society organized in this way.^[2]
• 1970 – the dominance of men in power and in social values.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A form of social organization in which the father or eldest male is head of the family, and descent, kinship and inheritance are traced through the male line.^[9][5][2]
2. A society or community organized in this way.^[9][5][2]
3. A social system in which men hold most of the power and influence, and its values favour men; also men regarded collectively as the dominant group: The essay argues that patriarchy shapes how work is paid.^[5][2]
4. (obsolete) A patriarchate: the see, office or jurisdiction of a patriarch of the church.^[5][3][2][8]

Word family

• antipatriarchy

Related words

• patriarch
• patriarchate
• patriarchal
• matriarchy
• -archy

References

1. ^ a b 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 q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins