English Explanatory Dictionary

tribal

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Of or relating to tribes.
  2. Based on or organized according to tribes.
  3. Phylogenic.
  4. Incorporating designs or styles typical of an indigenous people.
noun
  1. A design or image that has been influenced by indigenous peoples; especially such a tattoo.
  2. A member of a tribe.

Pronunciation

/ˈtɹaɪbəl/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-tribal.wav

Word forms

tribal more tribal most tribal tribals

Etymology

From Latin tribālis. By surface analysis, tribe + -al, first attested in the 1630s. The specific adjectival sense under the defunct theory of recapitulation derives from tribal history as an overly literal learned borrowing from German Stammesgeschichte; ordinarily, Stamm would only be translated as tribe when used in its ethnographic sense.

Derived words

extratribal intertribal intratribal multitribal tribal chief tribal house tribalism tribalist tribalistic tribal tattoo
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