hierarchy
English · Thesaurus
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hierarchy
- /ˈhaɪ.ə.ɹɑː(ɹ).ki/
- /ˈhaɪ.ɹɑː(ɹ).ki/
- /ˈhaɪ.ɑː(ɹ).ki/ nonstandard
Where it comes from
From Middle English ierarchie, jerarchie, from Old French ierarchie, jerarchie, from Late Latin ierarchia, from Latin hierarchia, from Ancient Greek ἱεραρχία (hierarkhía, “rule of a high priest”), from ἱεράρχης (hierárkhēs, “high priest”), from ἱερός (hierós, “holy”) + ἄρχω (árkhō, “to rule”), equivalent to hiero- + -archy. The H was re-added c. 1500 due to influence from Classical Latin.
noun hierarchies
- A body of authoritative officials organized in nested ranks. Gay men and bisexuals were blamed for the [AIDS] epidemic for much the same reason that the church hierarchy in the Middle Ages accused Jewish people of creating bubonic plague by "poisoning the wells."
-
A social, religious, economic or political system or organization in which people or groups of people are ranked with some superior to others based on their status, authority or some other trait.
Social defeat arises in strict social hierarchies in which the few dominate the many. Overcrowding exacerbates the many ills of social defeat within these social hierarchies based on dominance.
Similar: totem pole
- Any group of objects ranked so that every one but the topmost is subordinate to a specified one above it. ... the surviving portions provide enough detail to outline its principal features: the hierarchy of beings to whom his liturgy was to be addressed (we previously considered Plethon's hierarchy of gods in our examination of his Summary[…]
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: power structure, pecking order, hierarchical, seniority, class, leadership, high-ranking, affiliated, authority, classification, prioritisation, ranking, command, status, grading, order
Translations
Every language
noun body of authoritative officials organised by rank
| Español | jerarquía, hierarquía (disused) |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 계층 gyecheung |
| 日本語 | 階層 kaisō, 序列 joretsu, ヒエラルキー hierarukī |
| 中文 | 等級制度 /等级制度 děngjí zhìdù, 階層 /阶层 jiēcéng, 層次 /层次 céngcì |
| हिन्दी | पदानुक्रम padānukram, अनुक्रम anukram, हाइरार्की hāirārkī |
| Português | hierarquia |
| Français | hiérarchie |
| Deutsch | Hierarchie |
| Italiano | gerarchia |
| Ελληνικά | ιεραρχία ierarchía |
| Română | ierarhie |
| Русский | иера́рхия ijerárxija |
| Tiếng Việt | tôn ti, thứ bậc, hệ thống thứ bậc, tôn ti trật tự |
| العربية | هَرَمِيَّة haramiyya, سِلْسِلَةُ مَراتِب silsilatu marātib |
| עברית | הִיֵרַרכִיָה \ הייררכיה hiyerárkhya |
noun class of objects
| Español | jerarquía, hierarquía (disused) |
|---|---|
| 中文 | 等級制度 /等级制度 děngjí zhìdù, 階層 /阶层 jiēcéng, 層次 /层次 céngcì |
| Português | hierarquia |
| Deutsch | Hierarchie, Rangordnung |
| Ελληνικά | ιεραρχία ierarchía |
| Русский | иера́рхия ijerárxija |
| Tiếng Việt | thứ bậc, hệ thống thứ bậc |
Talk about this word "hierarchy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/hierarchy. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. hierarchy. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/hierarchy "hierarchy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/hierarchy.Cite this
@misc{hierarchy_2026,
title = {hierarchy},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/hierarchy},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
