paterfamilias

See also: pater familias

English

Alternative forms

• pater familias

Etymology

From around 1425 to 1475 from late Middle English which itself came from the Latin term with the same meaning. From the Latin term pater ("father") + familiās, an archaic genitive of familia ("family", "household"). Literally meaning "father of the family" or "father of the household". Compare the English word family.

Noun

paterfamilias (plural paterfamiliases or patresfamilias)

1. A man who is the head of a household, family or tribe.

Synonyms

• patriarch

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “a woman who is the head of a household”): materfamilias

Translations

a man who is the head of a household

• Arabic: رَبّ اَلْعَائِلَة m (rabb al-ʕāʔila)
• Faroese: húsbóndi m
• Galician: petrucio m
• Georgian: ტანუტერი (ṭanuṭeri)
• German: Paterfamilias (de) m, Familienvater (de) m
• Greek: πάτερ φαμίλιας (el) m (páter famílias)
• Hungarian: családfő (hu), családapa (hu)
• Irish: ceann tí m, ceann urra teaghlaigh m
• Italian: padre di famiglia
• Latin: pater familias m
• Sicilian: patri di famigghia
• Spanish: paterfamilias (es) m
• Volapük: famülafat

Spanish

Noun

paterfamilias m (plural paterfamilias)

1. paterfamilias

Further reading

• “paterfamilias”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28