exogamy
(ɛkˈsɒgəmɪ)
[f. as prec.: cf. endogamy.]
The custom by which a man is bound to take a wife outside his own clan or group. Hence exoˈgamic a. [see: -ic], pertaining to exogamy.
| 1865 M{supc}Lennan Prim. Marriage iii. 48 The words ‘endogamy’ and ‘exogamy’ are new. 1870 Lubbock Orig. Civiliz. iii. (1875) 132 A strict system of exogamy prevails. 1873 Contemp. Rev. XXII. 423 The transition which sometimes takes place from the exogamic to the endogamic system. 1885 Tylor in Academy 1 Aug. 67/2 A social development late in comparison with the really early stages—female descent and exogamic totemism. |