"of or pertaining to maternal rule or rule by females," 1780 (in reference to bee colonies); see matriarch + -al (1). Related: Matriarchally.
Entries linking to matriarchal
matriarch n.
"mother or woman who heads a family or tribe," c. 1600, from matri- "mother, woman" + -arch, abstracted from patriarch, ultimately from Greek arkhein "to rule" (see archon).
-al 1
suffix forming adjectives from nouns or other adjectives, "of, like, related to, pertaining to," Middle English -al, -el, from French or directly from Latin -alis (see -al (2)).