hegemony

English

WOTD – 17 February 2007

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἡγεμονία (hēgemonía, “supremacy or leadership, chief command”), from ἡγεμών (hēgemṓn, “a leader, guide, commander, chief”), from ἡγέομαι (hēgéomai, “to lead”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /hɪˈɡɛm.ə.ni/, /hɪˈdʒɛm.ə.ni/
• (US) IPA^(key): /həˈdʒɛm.ə.ni/, /ˈhɛdʒ.(ə).moʊ.ni/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

hegemony (countable and uncountable, plural hegemonies)

1. (formal) Domination, influence, or authority over another, especially by one political group over a society or by one nation over others.
2. Dominance of one social group over another, such that the ruling group or hegemon acquires some degree of consent from the subordinate, as opposed to dominance purely by force.

   • ie: internationally among nation-states, and regionally over social classes, between languages or even culture.

     eg: The two political parties battled viciously for hegemony.

Derived terms

• hegemonism
• hegemonist
• hegemonize

Related terms

• hegemon
• hegemonic

Translations

domination, influence, or authority over another

• Arabic: هَيْمَنَة‎ f (haymana)
• Armenian: գերիշխանություն (hy) (gerišxanutʿyun)
• Bulgarian: хегемония (bg) f (hegemonija), господство (bg) n (gospodstvo)
• Catalan: hegemonia (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 霸權 (zh), 霸权 (zh) (bàquán), 領導權 (zh), 领导权 (zh) (lǐngdǎoquán)

• Czech: nadvláda (cs) f, hegemonie (cs) f
• Dutch: hegemonie (nl) f, suprematie (nl), heerschap (nl), overwicht (nl), preponderantie (nl)
• Finnish: hegemonia (fi)
• French: hégémonie (fr) f
• German: Hegemonie (de) f
• Hebrew: הֶגְמוֹנְיָה‎ (he) (hegmonya)
• Hungarian: hegemónia (hu)
• Japanese: 覇権 (ja) (はけん, haken), ヘゲモニー (ja) (hegemonī)
• Khmer: អនុត្តរភាព (ak nut tak rak pheap)
• Lithuanian: hegemonija f

• Malay: hegemoni
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hegemoni n

  Nynorsk: hegemoni n

• Persian: سلطه‌گری‎ (soltegari), فرادستی‎ (farâdasti), هژمونی‎ (fa) (hežemoni)
• Polish: hegemonia (pl) f
• Portuguese: hegemonia (pt) f
• Russian: гегемо́ния (ru) f (gegemónija), госпо́дство (ru) n (gospódstvo), игемо́ния f (igemónija)
• Serbo-Croatian: hegemonija (sh) f, nadvlada (sh) f
• Sorbian:

  Upper Sorbian: hegemonija f

• Spanish: hegemonía (es) f
• Swedish: hegemoni (sv) c, herravälde (sv)
• Turkish: hegemonya (tr)
• Venetian: egemonia f

Further reading

• hegemony in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• hegemony in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911.
• "hegemony" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 144.