languagephylum
nounUK /ˈlæŋ.ɡwɪdʒ ˌfaɪ.ləm/
US /ˈlæŋ.ɡwɪdʒ ˌfaɪ.ləm/
A big group of languages that are like family because they come from the same old language.
The Romance languagephylum includes French, Spanish, and Italian.
OTHER MEANINGS
2. A top-level grouping in some language classification systems, above a family.
Some scholars treat the Uralic languages as a single languagephylum.
3. The whole set of languages descended from one ancient parent tongue.
The Indo-European languagephylum spreads across Europe and Asia.
4. A category used by linguists to organize languages by shared history.
She studied how the languagephylum split into smaller branches over time.