polygyny

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polygyny

/pəˈlɪd͡ʒ.ɪ.ni/

Where it comes from

From Ancient Greek πολύ (polú, “many”) + γυνή (gunḗ, “woman, wife”). By surface analysis, poly- + -gyny.

noun polygynies

countable, uncountable The state or practice of a man having more than one wife at a time; plurality of wives; marriage between one man and multiple wives. We may infer that in most cases where polygyny exists, monogamy co-exists to a greater extent, and in all other cases to a considerable extent.
Opposite: monogyny, monogamy
countable, uncountable The condition of an ant colony that has multiple egg-laying queens.
countable, uncountable Synonym of polygamy.
Similar: polygamy

Translations

Every language

noun plurality of wives at the same time

Español	poliginia
日本語	一夫多妻 ippu-tasai
中文	一夫多妻 yīfūduōqī, 一夫多妻制 yīfūduōqīzhì
हिन्दी	बहुपत्नीत्व bahupatnītva
Português	poliginia
Français	polygynie
Deutsch	Polygynie
Русский	многожёнство mnogožónstvo, полигини́я poliginíja
العربية	تَعَدُّد اَلزَّوْجَات taʕaddud az-zawjāt

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MLA

"polygyny." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/polygyny. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

APA

polygyny. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 7, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/polygyny

Chicago

"polygyny." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 7, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/polygyny.

BibTeX

@misc{polygyny_2026,
  title = {polygyny},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/polygyny},
  urldate = {2026-11-07}
}