NRTC English: Polygamy and its different forms like polyamory, polygyny, and polyandry

Polygamy is a general term for the practice of having many partners. It’s a common misconception that polygamy means one man married to multiple wives. The real term for that arrangement is polygyny, which is the practice or condition of having more than one wife at one time.

Before reading further, it is important to note that ‘-gyny’ originates from Greek gyne, which means “woman” while -andry  originates from the Greek word andro which is for “man”, hence the endings in all these words.

Generally, the prefix -poly means more than one and denotes “much” and “many”. It can also be found in words like polyglot (someone who can speak or understand many languages), polymath (a person who knows a great deal about many different subjects), and polygamy (the marriage practice of having ‘many’ mates) which is our highlight for NRTC English today.

In one way or the other, you must’ve come across polyandry, which is a form of polygamy in which a woman has more than one husband. This is rarely practiced in Nigeria.

Another variant of polygamy is polyamory, which is a form of ethical, consensual romantic or sexual relationships with multiple partners at the same time. In polyamory, all the partners are aware of and consent to practice polygamy. Either a man or woman can be polyamorous.

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Have you also heard of hypergamy?

It is the action of marrying or forming a sexual relationship with a person of a superior sociological or educational background. Simply put, it’s ‘marrying up’, forming sexual relationship with someone who’s not in your social class, or getting into a relationship with someone who has better prospects than you.

Hypogamy is the opposite of hypergamy. It is a form of marriage into a lower caste, class, or social group. For instance, say a well-educated person with high social class goes to a village to pick their partner and marries them.

Our last terms are monandry, which is the practice of having one husband at a time, and monogyny means the same thing but regarding wives.