Ancient Greek word root · Society & Law

-archy: rule, leader

-archy is an Ancient Greek root meaning “rule, leader”. Learn its variants and explore 13 connected words.

Meaning and variants

Meaning: rule, leader

Root forms: -archy, arch-, -arch

Source word: ἀρχή — beginning, origin

Word family and examples

• archbishop

  A senior bishop who is in charge of an archdiocese, and presides over a group of dioceses called a province (in Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Anglicanism, etc.)

• hierarchy

  A body of authoritative officials organized in nested ranks.

• monarchy

  a form of government with a monarch at the head

• anarchy

  The state of a society being without authorities or an authoritative governing body.

• patriarch

  The highest form of bishop, in the ancient world having authority over other bishops in the province but now generally as an honorary title; in Roman Catholicism, considered a bishop second only to the Pope in rank.

• aristocracy

  the highest class in society; government by a privileged class

• patriarchy

  A social system in which the father is head of the household, having authority over women and children, and in which lineage is traced through the male line.

• archdiocese

  A diocese administered by an archbishop.

• archangel

  A powerful angel that leads many other angels, but is still loyal to a deity, and often seen as belonging to a particular archangelical rank or order within a greater hierarchy of angels. (Judeo-Christian examples: Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, Uriel).

• oligarchy

  A government run by and for only a few, often the aristocracy, the wealthy, or their friends and associates.

• archduke

  The son or male-line grandson of an emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

• matriarch

  A female leader of a family, a tribe or an ethnic or religious group.

• matriarchy

  A social system in which the mother is head of household, having authority over men and children, and lineage is traced through the female line.

Root connections help with vocabulary recall. They are not a complete etymological history, and a spelling match alone does not prove a relationship.

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