tribe
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /tɹaɪb/
rhymes: -aɪb
Forms: form: tribes
Etymology: PIE word
 *tréyes
From Middle English tribe, tribu, from Old French tribu, from Latin tribus. Doublet of tribus.
Senses: examples: text: the Twelve Tribes of Israel; Germanic tribes; Celtic tribes
text: The Formation of Kazakh Identity: From Tribe to Nation-state
text: If two persons bore the same name, […] ambiguity was avoided by […] indicating their place of origin, the name of the tribe or deme being added for persons of the same town […], and the name of the country or town for foreigners […].
ref: 1945, E[lizabeth] G[idley] Withycombe, “Introduction”, in The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page xiii:
text: There have been other encounters with uncontacted tribes in recent years.
In February, a young man from an isolated Indigenous tribe in Brazil made brief contact with the outside world before returning to the Amazon rainforest.
ref: 2025 April 4, Lex Harvey and Esha Mitra, “US tourist arrested after allegedly attempting to contact ‘world’s most isolated’ tribe”, in CNN:
topics: anthropology
history
human-sciences
sciences
glosses: 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.
examples: text: This leaves for consideration of this group of small tribes, or subtribes, so far as mapped by the writer quoted, the Teule, Cazcan, and Tecuexe.
ref: 1911, Cyrus Thomas, Indian Languages of Mexico and Central America:
glosses: A tribal nation or people.
glosses: A nation or people considered culturally primitive, as may be the case in Africa, Australia or Native America.
examples: text: Near-synonym: ingroup
text: The thought of spending a year in close company with twitchers chilled me to the core. Not that I have anything against them, I am terribly fond of the members of the tribe, it is just that basically, they are a bunch of obsessive freaks.
ref: 2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 26:
glosses: A socially cohesive group of people within a society.
examples: text: In 1968, estimates of the number of active reprint publishers ranged from about 20 to 100 publishers. The fact that almost 300 U.S. reprint publishers have been identified is evidence that the reprint tribe continues to increase.
ref: 1972, Carol A. Nemeyer, Scholarly Reprint Publishing in the United States, New York, N.Y.: R. R. Bowker Co., →ISBN, page 7:
glosses: A class or group of things.
topics: biology
natural-sciences
zoology
glosses: A group of apes who live and work together.
examples: text: The tempo of evolution in South American hamsters was very rapid – in the course of the Pliocene and Anthropocene 40 genera were formed here, at which time a series of them attained the level of tribe and subtribe (Oxymycteri, Phyllotiini, Ichthyomyini).
ref: 1960, Doklady. Biological Sciences Sections, volumes 132–135, Washington, D.C.: American Institute of Biological Sciences, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 640, column 2:
topics: biology
natural-sciences
taxonomy
glosses: A hierarchical rank between family and genus.
glosses: A group of affiliated Mardi Gras Indians.
glosses: The collective noun for various animals.
examples: text: the Duchess tribe of shorthorns
qualifier: stock breeding
glosses: A family of animals descended from some particular female progenitor, through the female line.
Synonyms: topics: taxonomy
biology
natural-sciences
word: tribus
Derived terms: criminal tribe
Grey Tribe
tribal
tribalism
tribalist
tribalistic
tribally
tribehood
tribelet
tribesmember
your vibe attracts your tribe