polyandry

views updated

polyandry A term denoting the marriage of one woman to two or more men. It is a rarely encountered form of marriage and usually occurs when one woman marries two or more brothers, in which case it is known as either adelphic or fraternal polyandry. One motive in this case would be the maintenance of land and property within one family, because inheritance passes to the children, who are all regarded as being offspring of the same father(s).

More From encyclopedia.com