Word.ws English Dictionary

matrilinear

matrilinear is the alternative form of matrilineal.

Meaning of matrilineal

Adjective

matrilineal (not comparable)

  1. Tracing descent only through female ancestors.
    • Kerala traditionally has matrilineal inheritance.

Origin of matrilinear

From matri- + linear.

Words formed from matrilinear

Questions about matrilinear

What is matrilinear the alternative form of?
Matrilinear is the alternative form of matrilineal.

Words near matrilinear in the dictionary

  1. matrilineal line
  2. matrilineal lineage
  3. matrilinealism
  4. matrilineality
  5. matrilineally
  6. matrilinear
  7. matrilinearism
  8. matrilineate
  9. matrilines
  10. matrilingual
  11. matrilinial

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: matrilinear (page history and authors); matrilineal (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “matrilinear.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/matrilinear. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.