hypogamy
1
9.9
- noun
- /haɪˈpɒɡəmi/
- Specialized
- Hypogamy is the opposite of hypergamy, in that it involves choosing mates who are lower status than you are.
Examples
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If one can speak of caste divisions at all within sections of the Hindu community, they are highly flexible and allow individual mobility through intercaste marriages, hypergamy, and hypogamy.
Academic text (1994) -
She faced criticism for her hypogamy when she chose to marry someone who worked in a less prestigious job.
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Like hypergamy, hypogamy is not necessarily a bad thing.
Blog text (9) -
In some societies, marrying into a lower social class, known as hypogamy, can still lead to a loving partnership.
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Many people view hypogamy as a way to break social barriers by marrying someone from a less privileged background.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A marriage when one partner comes from a lower social class
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
hypogamy = gamy (opaque) = hypo + gamy
The prefix hypo- suggests 'under' or 'below', but the bound element -gamy is not a transparent standalone English base for most learners.
Etymology
Hypogamy comes from Greek parts hypo- meaning 'under' and gamos meaning 'marriage', the same root you see in monogamy ('one marriage') and polygamy ('many marriages'). So hypogamy literally means 'marriage down' and is used when someone marries into a lower social or economic class.