Standard Lemma guide

matrilineal

adj · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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/ˌmeɪtɹɪˈlɪnɪəl/
/ˌmætɹɪ-/
CMU ARPABET: M AE2 T R IH0 L IH1 N IY0 AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

adj

Meaning 1

Tracing descent only through female ancestors.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Topics: anthropology, human-sciences, sciences

Examples

Kerala traditionally has matrilineal inheritance.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

adjective satellite

Meaning 2

based on or tracing descent through the female line

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

matrilineal inheritance

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: matrilinear

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *méh2tēr Proto-Italic *mātēr Latin māterder. English matri- English lineal English matrilineal From matri- + lineal. Coined by British government anthropologist Northcote Whitridge Thomas in 1904 along with patrilineal.

Across languages

Translations

6 source translations are retained for this English entry.

Bulgarian: по майчина линия (po majčina linija) — Tracing descent only through female ancestors
Finnish: matrilineaarinen — Tracing descent only through female ancestors
French: matrilinéaire — Tracing descent only through female ancestors
Italian: matrilineare — Tracing descent only through female ancestors
Malay: matrilineal — Tracing descent only through female ancestors
Spanish: matrilineal — Tracing descent only through female ancestors

Word forms

Inflections and variants

No separate word forms were provided.

Word family

Derived and related words

Derived: matrilineal descent, matrilinealism, matrilineality, matrilineal line, matrilineal lineage, matrilineally, nonmatrilineal

Related: matrilateral, matriline, lineal, direct

Semantic map

Other relationships

Sources

Where this information comes from

Wiktionary data was expanded into structured fields by Wiktextract. Matching Princeton WordNet definitions and semantic relationships, plus CMUdict ARPABET pronunciations, are merged into this same canonical word page.

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Real reading context

Examples

Meaning relationships

Examples

Meaning relationships

matrilineal in complete knowledge articles