hypergamous
1
9.9
- adjective
- /ˌhaɪpərˈɡæməs/
- Specialized
- If women tend to be hypergamous, men tend to be hypogamous.
Examples
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In a hypergamous relationship, a woman often chooses a husband with higher social status than her own.
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I suspect there are plenty of women who are less hypergamous than the attitudes in the Manosphere would imply.
Blog text (14) -
The catch is that women are hypergamous, so they date over and up.
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Dowry and hypergamous marriage (i.e., a woman should "marry up" in the social scale), also prevalent in large parts of India, turn female education into a liability.
Academic text (1998) -
Many women are hypergamous as they seek partners who can provide greater financial security.
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Cultural norms sometimes encourage hypergamous marriages, where women aim to improve their social standing.
Surface Forms
Morphology
hypergamous = hypergamy (semi-transparent) = hyper + gam + ous
The word is built from the classical prefix hyper- and the marriage root gam-, plus the adjective suffix -ous, but the specific social-status meaning is specialized and not fully predictable.
Etymology
The word hypergamous comes from Greek parts hyper- meaning 'above' (as in hyperactive) and gamos meaning 'marriage' (seen in monogamy). So a hypergamous person looks for a partner who is 'above' them in social or money status.