diarchy
/ˈdaɪ.ɑɹ.ki/noun
diarchy is a noun meaning “Rule by two people” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled D-I-A-R-C-H-Y, and it appears about once in every 91 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of diarchy is diarchies.
What does diarchy mean?
noun
- 1
Rule by two people.
Djokovic finally cracked the Federer-Nadal diarchy in 2010.
- 2
A state under the rule of two people; the form of government of such state.
Swaziland is an absolute diarchy, ruled jointly by a king and a queen mother.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce diarchy?
- /ˈdaɪ.ɑɹ.ki/
- /ˈdaɪ.ɑː.ki/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-diarchy.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of diarchy
- diarchies plural
- dinarchy
- dyarchy
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is diarchy?
Diarchy appears about once in every 91 million words in written English, the 305,310th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Diarchy in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense form of government:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | dyarchie, diarchie |
| German | Diarchie, Doppelherrschaft, Biarchie |
| Portuguese | diarquia |
| Spanish | diarquía |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does diarchy come from?
From di- + -archy. Modelled after monarchy.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).