hierarchy
noun
[ ˈhʌɪərɑːki ]
• a system in which members of an organization or society are ranked according to relative status or authority.
• "the initiative was with those lower down in the hierarchy"
Origin:
late Middle English: via Old French and medieval Latin from Greek hierarkhia, from hierarkhēs ‘sacred ruler’ (see hierarch). The earliest sense was ‘system of orders of angels and heavenly beings’; the other senses date from the 17th century.
