subfamily

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noun

A taxonomic category ranking between a family and a genus; formerly called a tribe.

Less commonScrabble 19

Meanings

nounsubfamily (plural subfamilies)

plural subfamilies

  1. biologyA taxonomic category ranking between a family and a genus; formerly called a tribe.
  2. A secondary or subordinate grouping.

    There is a handy font editor tool in the engine, where you can import your font and create family and subfamily for your font (for example, the same font can have a family for its bold, italic, light, and dark style as its subfamily).

    2015, Nicola Valcasara, Unreal Engine Game Development Blueprints, page 142

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*upó
  2. Proto-Italic*supo
  3. Latinsub
  4. Latinsub-
  5. Englishsub-
  6. Englishfamily
  7. Englishsubfamily

From sub- + family.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Afrikaans subfamilie, onderfamilie
  • subfamilietaxonomic category
  • onderfamilietaxonomic category
Catalan subfamília
  • subfamíliataxonomic category
Chinese Mandarin 亞科 /亚科
  • 亞科 /亚科 (yàkē)taxonomic category
Czech podčeleď
  • podčeleďtaxonomic category
Danish underfamilie
  • underfamilietaxonomic category
Dutch onderfamilie, subfamilie
  • onderfamilietaxonomic category
  • subfamilietaxonomic category
Finnish alaheimo
  • alaheimotaxonomic category
French sous-famille
  • sous-familletaxonomic category
German Unterfamilie, Subfamilie
  • Unterfamilietaxonomic category
  • Subfamilietaxonomic category
Greek υποοικογένεια
  • υποοικογένεια (ypooikogéneia)taxonomic category
Indonesian upafamili, upakeluarga
  • upafamilitaxonomic category
  • upakeluargataxonomic category
Italian sottofamiglia
  • sottofamigliataxonomic category
Malay subkeluarga, subfamili
  • subkeluargataxonomic category
  • subfamilitaxonomic category
Polish podrodzina
  • podrodzinataxonomic category
Portuguese subfamília
  • subfamíliataxonomic category
Romanian sub-familie
  • sub-familietaxonomic category
Russian подсеме́йство
  • подсеме́йство (podseméjstvo)taxonomic category
Spanish subfamilia
  • subfamiliataxonomic category
Swedish underfamilj
  • underfamiljtaxonomic category
Tagalog kub-angkanhay
  • kub-angkanhaytaxonomic category
Welsh is-deulu
  • is-deulutaxonomic category
Cite this entry
APA

subfamily. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/subfamily

MLA

“subfamily.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/subfamily. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “subfamily,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/subfamily.

Source: subfamily on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.