Tharavad, also spelled as Tharavadu (ⓘ) (തറവാട്), is the Malayalam word for the ancestral home of aristocratic Nair families[1][2] in Kerala, which usually served as the common residence for the matrilineal joint family under the Marumakkathayam system practiced in the state.[3][4] German linguist Hermann Gundert, in his Malayalam—English dictionary published in 1872, defines a Tharavadu as, "An ancestral residence of land-owners and kings", and also as, "A house, chiefly of noblemen".[5] It was classically the residence of Jenmimar, but contemporary usage of the word is now more generic to all social classes and religions in Kerala.[6] By extension, the word refers not just to the family's house but to the extended family that shares that house. Heads of tharavadus - usually the eldest living male - were known as Karnavars, and junior members as Anandravans.