Words ending -archy

A number of words ending ‘–archy’ – the ‘ch’ is pronounced as a ‘k’ – are used to denote different types of rule or government. The ending ‘–archy’ comes from the Greek ἀρχή (archē), which means ‘beginning’, ‘origin’, ‘sovereignty’ and, in the plural, ‘the authorities’. The first part of the words in this group usually comes from the Greek too.

The most common word in this group is probably monarchy, which means, literally, 'rule by a single individual': its first part comes from the Greek μόνος (monos), 'alone’, ‘single'. The sole ruler is a monarch, and the related adjectives are monarchic and monarchical. (For some help with the pronunciation of these and other words in this group see Note on Pronunciation.) However, the word monarch is used nowadays only of kings and queens: we should not refer to a dictator who had usurped power as a monarch, even though he was sole ruler. Further, the word has become so detached from its etymological roots that it is not felt to be self-contradictory to describe a country as being ruled jointly by two monarchs – as was the case with William III (reigned 1689-1702) and his wife Mary (reigned 1689-1694), who were crowned joint monarchs of England, Scotland, and Ireland. The word monarch is also used metaphorically of someone who is pre-eminent or supremely powerful within a particular sphere: the Victorian industrialist looking down from his office window over his vast factory and hundreds of employees might feel that he was ‘monarch of all he surveyed’; and the famous painting by Sir Edwin Landseer (1802-1873) of a red deer stag standing triumphantly against a bleak highland landscape has the title ‘The Monarch of the Glen’.

Rule by two individuals is diarchy (or dyarchy): the first part of the word comes from the Greek δύο (duo),’two'. Rule by three, four, five, six, or seven individuals is, respectively, triarchy, tetrarchy, pentarchy, hexarchy, and heptarchy, the first part of each word coming from the Greek for the corresponding numeral, namely, τρεῖς (treis, ‘three'), τέτταρες (tettares, ‘four’), πέντε (pente, ‘five’, ἕξ (hex, ‘six’), and ἑπτά (hepta, ‘seven’). See also Greek numerical prefixes for groups. All these nouns, including monarchy, may also be used to refer to a nation or state which has the corresponding number of rulers: we may say, e.g., that Saudi Arabia is a monarchy, while ancient Sparta was a dyarchy.

Some of the words in this group, used with the definite article, may have a specific reference, especially in a historical context. For example,

The Tetrarchy may refer to the system of government introduced in 293 CE by the Roman emperor Diocletian (reigned 284-305 CE). Under this system the Roman Empire was ruled by a ‘college’ of four emperors, two ‘senior’ emperors, with the title Augustus, one ruling the eastern half of the Empire, and the other ruling the western half, and two ’junior’ emperors, with the title Caesar, each to assist one of the ‘senior’ emperors.

The Heptarchy refers collectively to the seven kingdoms into which Anglo-Saxon England was divided from the 7th to the 9th century, namely, the kingdoms of East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Mercia, Northumbria, Sussex, and Wessex.

Oligarchy means rule by a few: the first part of the word comes from the Greek ὸλίγος (oligos), ‘small’, ‘little’, ‘few’. A member of a small ruling group is an oligarch, and the related adjectives are oligarchic and oligarchical.

Oligarchy may be contrasted with polyarchy, a term used by the American political theorist Robert Dahl (1915-2014) to describe a form of government in which power is shared between many individuals. The first part of the word comes from the Greek πολύς (polus), ‘many’.

Anarchy means ‘an absence of government’, but the word may also be used to describe any state of disorder or lawlessness: we might say, e.g., that the new teacher could not maintain discipline and so there was often anarchy in the classroom. The first part of anarchy is the privative ἀ(ν) (a(n)), ‘not’, ‘without’.

Hierarchy may be used to mean ‘government by a body of priests’: the first part of the word comes from the Greek ἱερός (hieros) ‘sacred’, ‘holy’. However, the word is rarely used in this way: for its more common uses see Hierarchy.

Note on pronunciation: The pronunciation of all the words in this group follows the same pattern. Words ending -archy or -arch have the stress on the first syllable – oligarchy, monarchy, oligarch, monarch – while the adjectival forms have the stress on the –arch- syllable – oligarchic, oligarchical, monarchic, monarchical.

See also Words ending -(o)cracy.