Back Patriarg Afrikaans ፓትርያርክ Amharic بطريرك Arabic ܦܛܪܝܪܟܐ ARC بطريرك ARZ Patriarca AST Патрыярх (царкоўны сан) Byelorussian Патрыярх (царкоўны сан) BE-X-OLD Патриарх Bulgarian Patrijarh (kršćanstvo) BS
A patriarch was the head of an extended family, originally.
Today, the word is mostly taken to have a meaning within Christianity. There, the word is used to refer to the highest-ranking Bishops of the respective churches, that is the Oriental Orthodox Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East