heptarchy

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: hep=tar=chy

CIDE DICTIONARY

heptarchy, n. [Hepta- + -archy: cf. F. heptarchie.].

 A government by seven persons; also, a country under seven rulers.  [1913 Webster]
" The word is most commonly applied to England, when it was divided into seven kingdoms; as, the Saxon heptachy, which consisted of Kent, the South Saxons (Sussex), West Saxons (Wessex), East Saxons (Essex), the East Angles, Mercia, and Northumberland."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

heptarchy, n. (pl. -ies)
1 a government by seven rulers. b an instance of this.
2 hist. the supposed seven kingdoms of the Angles and the Saxons in Britain in the 7th-8th c.

Derivative

heptarchic adj. heptarchical adj.

Etymology

HEPTA- after tetrarchy