Meanings
adjectivematrilocal (not comparable)
- not comparableLiving with the family of the wife; uxorilocal.
- not comparableanthropologyIn which newly married couples live with the wife's family.
In barring the way, he is enacting a ritual which demands that the new way of patrilocal marriage pay its respect to the more ancient way of matrilocal marriage.
1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 191
Synonyms & antonyms
Similar
Opposite
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*méh₂tēr
- Proto-Italic*mātēr
- Latinmāter
- Englishmatri-
- Englishlocal
- Englishmatrilocal
Translations
French matrilocal
- matrilocalTranslations
Italian matrilocale
- matrilocaleTranslations
Spanish matrilocal
- matrilocalTranslations
Cite this entry
APA
matrilocal. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/matrilocal
MLA
“matrilocal.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/matrilocal. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “matrilocal,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/matrilocal.
Source: matrilocal on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.