Etymology

levirate marriage

Today it means: A marriage in which a widow marries her late husband's brother in order to maintain the family community. Full definition →

Late Latin lēvir
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The story

  1. Late Latin · derived fromlēvir“husband's brother”
  2. English todaylevirate marriage

From levirate + marriage, from Late Latin lēvir (“husband's brother”).

Words from the same roots

Late Latinlēvir all →

levir

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.