cleruchy

Borrowed from Ancient Greek κληρουχία (klēroukhía), from κληροῦχος (klēroûkhos, “cleruch”); see cleruch.

cleruchy (plural cleruchies)

1. (historical, Ancient Greece) A form of Athenian colony in the time of Ancient Greece, under which the settlers or cleruchs retained their citizenship, and were assigned plots, or kleroi, of agricultural land, while the community remained a political dependency of Athens.

• cleruch
• cleruchial
• cleruchic