phyle

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phy·le

(fī′lē)

n. pl. phy·lae (-lē)

A large citizens' organization based on kinship, constituting the largest political subdivision of an ancient Greek city-state.

[Greek phūlē, tribe, phyle; see bheuə- in Indo-European roots.]

phy′lic adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

phyle

(ˈfaɪlɪ)

n, pl -lae (-liː)

(Anthropology & Ethnology) a tribe or clan of an ancient Greek people such as the Ionians

[C19: from Greek phulē tribe, clan]

ˈphylic adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

phy•le

(ˈfaɪ li)

n., pl. -lae (-lē).

(in ancient Greece) any of various hereditary corporate subdivisions of a population, as the traditional tribal subdivisions of the Dorians and Ionians.

[1860–65; < Greek phȳlḗ]

phy′lic, adj.

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Noun

phyle - a tribe of ancient Athenians

tribe, folk - a social division of (usually preliterate) people

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References in periodicals archive ?

This study follows the rationale outlined by Dixon (2002:45) for subgrouping languages: in situations where there is more than 70 percent common vocabulary between two languages, they are probably dialects of the same language; between 51 and 70 percent, the two are different languages or family-like languages of the same subgroup; between 26 and 50 percent, different subgroups of the same group; and between 16 and 25 percent, different groups of the same phylic family; but when the commonality is less than 15 percent the two are from different phylic families.