hierarchy
HIGH-er-ar-keenounMeaning a system that ranks people or things one above another
Memory hook HIGHER-ARCHY: who stands HIGHER. At the castle the king stands highest, then the knight, then the cook. That ranking from higher to lower is a hierarchy.
In the army’s hierarchy, a general outranks a colonel, and a colonel outranks a captain.
In context The kitchen ran on a strict hierarchy: the head chef gave orders to the cooks, the cooks to the helpers, and the helpers to the new dishwasher.
Similar ranking, pecking order, chain of command, ladder
Opposite equality
From Greek hierarkhia, “rule of a high priest”: hieros (sacred) + arkhein (to rule); later, any ranking from top to bottom.