Matrilineal

adjective

/ˌmætrɪˈlɪniəl/

Relating to a system of descent, inheritance, or kinship traced through the mother's line. In matrilineal societies, clan membership, property, and titles pass from mother to children. Notable Indian examples include the Khasi and Garo communities of Meghalaya, and historically the Nairs of Kerala. The Khasi system — where the youngest daughter (ka khadduh) inherits the ancestral home — is protected under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution as a customary right.

✍️ Usage in a UPSC answer

The Meghalaya Succession to Self-Acquired Property Act, 1984 attempts to balance the traditional matrilineal inheritance rights of the Khasi community with the individual property rights guaranteed under the Constitution.

Synonyms

mother-line descentmatrilinearuterine descentmatri-descent

Antonyms

patrilinealagnaticpatri-descentfather-line descent

🌱 Word Family

matriliny (noun), matrilineage (noun), matrilineally (adverb), matrilineal descent (compound noun)

🔡 Root

Latin mater = mother + linealis = of a line (from linea = line); literally 'of the mother's line'

📜 Etymology

A 19th-century anthropological coinage combining Latin mater (mother) and linealis (of a line), parallel to the construction of 'patrilineal'. The distinction between matrilineal and patrilineal descent was systematised by Lewis Henry Morgan and later John McLennan in the 1860s–1870s. The Khasi and Garo matrilineal systems attracted extensive colonial-era ethnographic attention, including from P.R.T. Gurdon in The Khasis (1907).

🧠 Memory Hook

MATRI = mother (same as in 'maternity'). LINEAL = of the line (like a lineage/family line). MATRILINEAL = the MOTHER'S LINE carries the heritage. Contrast with PATRILINEAL = FATHER'S line. A simple rule: MATRI → MOTHER, PATRI → FATHER; both + LINEAL = whose bloodline you follow.

👥 Society 📖 Seen in: Salient Features of Indian Society — D...

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