hypogamy
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English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Noun
[edit]hypogamy (uncountable)
- The seeking of a spouse of lower socioeconomic status or caste than oneself.
- 1972 August 27, Sheila K. Johnson, “A woman anthropologist offers a solution to the woman problem”, in The New York Times[1]:
- The reverse (hypogamy) is rare because with marriage a woman and her future offspring take on the social position of the husband, and so an upper‐class woman marrying a lower‐class man reduces her position as well as that of her children.
- 1988 July 11, Seth Mydans, “Singapore Journal; How to Marry Up, and Avoid the Frogs and Nerds”, in The New York Times[2]:
- Men like Mr. Lim, according to Government officials, often end up marrying "downward" - hypogamy - after they fail to win a woman of their own educational level.
Synonyms
[edit]- marrying down (colloquial expression)