tributary

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tributary

  • /ˈtɹɪbjʊtəɹi/

Where it comes from

PIE word

*tréyes

From Middle English tributarie (“paying tribute”), from Latin tribūtārius, from tribūtum (“tribute”).

noun tributaries

  1. A natural water stream that flows into a larger river or other body of water.

    Similar: affluent, influent · Opposite: distributary

  2. A vein which drains into another vein. The great saphenous vein is a tributary of the femoral vein.
  3. A nation, state, or other entity that pays tribute. An earneſt Coniuration from the King, / As England was his faithfull Tributary

adjective

  1. not comparable Related to the paying of tribute.
  2. not comparable Subordinate; inferior. to grace his tributary gods
  3. not comparable Yielding supplies of any kind; serving to form or make up, a greater object of the same kind, as a part, branch, etc.; contributing. The Ohio has many tributary streams, and is itself tributary to the Mississippi.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: feeder, secondary, affluent, influent, inlet, function, taxation, hostage, tax, subject, susceptible, dependence, dependent, reliant, reliance, flock

Translations

Every language

noun stream which flows into a larger one

Españolafluente
한국어지류 jiryu
日本語支流 shiryū
中文支流 zhīliú
Portuguêsafluente
Françaisaffluent
DeutschNebenfluss, Zufluss
Italianoaffluente, tributario, immissario
Ελληνικάπαραπόταμος parapótamos
Românăafluent
Русскийприто́к pritók
Tiếng Việtphụ lưu
العربيةرَافِد rāfid
עבריתיוּבַל yuvál

noun nation, state, etc. that pays tribute

Españoltributario
日本語属国 zokkoku
中文進貢國 /进贡国 jìngòngguó, 附庸國 /附庸国 fùyōngguó, 屬國 /属国 shǔguó, 納貢國 /纳贡国 nàgòngguó
Italianovassallo
Românătributar
Русскийда́нник dánnik

adj related to the paying of tribute

Españoltributario
Italianotributario

adj yielding supplies of any kind

Españolcontribuyente

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

"tributary." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/tributary. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

tributary. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/tributary

Chicago

"tributary." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/tributary.

BibTeX
@misc{tributary_2026,
  title = {tributary},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/tributary},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}