Etymology

hypergamy

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Today it means: A preference for marrying a spouse of higher social class. Full definition →

Ancient Greek γᾰ́μος (gắmos) ← Proto-Indo-European *ǵem- ← English hyper-
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*úp
  2. Proto-Indo-European*upér
  3. Proto-Hellenic*hupér
  4. Ancient Greekῠ̔πέρ (hŭpér)
  5. Ancient Greekῠ̔περ- (hŭper-)
  6. Englishhyper-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*ǵem-
  8. Ancient Greekγᾰ́μος (gắmos)
  9. English todayhypergamy

From hyper- + -gamy.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.