patrilineal descent

Definition of Patrilineal Descent

(noun) Tracing descent through the father’s side of the family.

Patrilineal Descent Pronunciation

Pronunciation Usage Guide

Syllabification: pat·ri·lin·e·al de·scent

Audio Pronunciation

Usage Notes

• Plural: patrilineal descents
• An agnate is a blood relative in a patrilineal descent.
• Primogeniture, the custom or law granting inheritance of a family estate to the first born or eldest child is typically male only and therefore a type of patrilineal descent.
• Patrilateral refers to people’s relations on their father’s side.
• A type of unilineal descent.
• In contrast to patrilineal descent, matrilineal descent is tracing an individual’s descent through the mother’s side of the family.
• Variant spelling: patri-lineal descent
• Also called:
  • agnatic
  • agnatic descent
  • agnation
  • male-line
  • patrilineality
  • patrilinear descent
  • patriliny
• A genealogist can trace descent (adverb) patrilineally through the father’s side.

Additional Information

• Family and Kinship Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
• Word origin of “patrilineal” and “descent” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com

Related Terms

• ambilineal descent
• bilateral descent
• bilineal descent
• descendant
• descent group
• kinship
• lineage
• matrilineal descent
• moiety
• nonunilineal descent
• unilineal descent

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Works Consulted

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Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/).

Cite the Definition of Patrilineal Descent

ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “patrilineal descent.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved September 17, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/patrilineal-descent/).

APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)

patrilineal descent. (2014). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/patrilineal-descent/

Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “patrilineal descent.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed September 17, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/patrilineal-descent/.

MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)

“patrilineal descent.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2014. Web. 17 Sep. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/patrilineal-descent/>.