— matroclinous, matroclinal, matroclinic /ma'treuh klin"ik, may'-/ , adj.
/ma"treuh kluy'nee, may"-/ , n. Genetics.
inheritance in which the traits of the offspring are derived primarily from the maternal parent (opposed to patrocliny ).
Also, matricliny .
[ 1915-20; matro- (var. of MATRI- with -O-) + -clin- ( klínein to bend, lean, or extracted from INCLINE; cf. CLINE) + -Y 3 ]