“tribes” is a form of
tribe
/tɹaɪb/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms tribes tribing tribed
- noun (history, anthropology) An ethnic group larger than a band or clan (and which may contain clans) but smaller than a nation (and which in turn may constitute a nation with other tribes). The tribe is often the basis of ethnic identity. “the Twelve Tribes of Israel; Germanic tribes; Celtic tribes”
- noun (synecdochic) A tribal nation or people.
- noun (informal, derogatory) A nation or people considered culturally primitive, as may be the case in Africa, Australia or Native America.
- noun A socially cohesive group of people within a society. “She found her tribe among fellow cross-stitchers.”
- noun A class or group of things.
- noun (zoology) A group of apes who live and work together.
- noun (taxonomy) A hierarchical rank between family and genus.
- noun A species or group of similar species of animal.
- verb (transitive) To distribute into tribes or classes; to categorize.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
nation ingroup tribus folk federation of tribes kin kin group kinship group kindred clan
Etymology
From Middle English tribe, tribu, from Old French tribu, from Latin tribus. Doublet of tribus. Displaced native Old English hād (“tribe, group”).
Southern English surname of uncertain origin. Perhaps related to Latin tribus.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A family, race, or series of generations, descending from the same progenitor, and kept distinct, as in the case of the twelve tribes of Israel, descended from the twelve sons of Jacob. "The Lion of the tribe of Juda." Rev. v. 5.
- noun A number of species or genera having certain structural characteristics in common; as, a tribe of plants; a tribe of animals.
- verb To distribute into tribes or classes. [R.]
Etymology [L. tribus, originally, a third part of the Roman people, afterwards, a division of the people, a tribe; of uncertain origin: cf. F. tribu.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “tribe”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details