polygyny

From Ancient Greek πολύ (polú, “many”) + γυνή (gunḗ, “woman, wife”); synchronically, poly- +‎ -gyny.

• IPA^(key): /pəˈlɪdʒɪnɪ/

polygyny (countable and uncountable, plural polygynies)

1. The state or practice of having several wives at the same time; plurality of wives; marriage to several wives.

   Herbert Spencer (1883) The Principles of Sociology, page 685: “We may infer that in most cases where polygyny exists, monogamy co-exists to a greater extent, and in all other cases to a considerable extent.”

2. The condition of an ant colony that has multiple egg-laying queens.

• monogamy
• monogyny
• oligogyny
• polyandry

• polygamy

• bigamy

• polygynist
• polygynous