matriarcal

\ma.tʁi.jaʁ.kal\

/\ma.tʁi.jaʁ.kal\/ adj

The verdict

“matriarcal” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
10
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Relatif au matriarcat, aux sociétés ou le pouvoir (la terre) est détenu par les femmes.

Corpus desk

Index FR-matriarcal · matriarcal · French

matriarcal · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "M" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for matriarcal
PropertyValue
Headwordmatriarcal
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\ma.tʁi.jaʁ.kal\
Letters10
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « matriarcal » en français

matriarcalsiège au-delà des 100.000 formes les plus fréquentes du français, dans la traîne du lexique spécialisé ou peu usité.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

matriarcal is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed \ma.tʁi.jaʁ.kal\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for matriarcal in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is matriarcal, spelled M-A-T-R-I-A-R-C-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Relatif au matriarcat, aux sociétés ou le pouvoir (la terre) est détenu par les femmes.
  2. 2
    Dominé par les femelles.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how matriarcal appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Les Gitxsan sont une nation matriarcale, et la mère de l’enfant est membre de la bande Gitanmaax, indique Tracey Woods, qui est chef depuis quatre ans.
  2. En Europe occidentale, les sociétés germano-scandinaves sont encore, dans leurs profondeurs, matriarcales et matrilinéaires.

Synonyms

gynocratique

Antonyms

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "matriarcal"?
"matriarcal" is spelled M-A-T-R-I-A-R-C-A-L. The IPA pronunciation is \ma.tʁi.jaʁ.kal\.
What does "matriarcal" mean?
As an adjective, "matriarcal" means: Relatif au matriarcat, aux sociétés ou le pouvoir (la terre) est détenu par les femmes.
How do you pronounce "matriarcal"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "matriarcal" is \ma.tʁi.jaʁ.kal\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "matriarcal" come from?
"matriarcal" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list