The definition of hypergamous is a marriage to someone of higher social standing. ... Of or pertaining to hypergamy.

What is the meaning of the word Hypergamous?

Examples of hypergamy in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Young migrant men will suffer all the more because of a preference among Chinese women for marrying men with more money or education (a practice known as hypergamy). — The Economist, 3 May 2018.

Where does the word hypergamy come from?

Hypergamy comes from the Greek prefix hyper, “above,” and gamos, “marriage.” Consider the words monogamy or polygamy, for comparison. The term emerged in the 1880s from English anthropologists who were describing marriage practices in the caste society of the Indian subcontinent.