Meaning

noun a female head of a family or tribe

noun a feisty older woman with a big bosom (as drawn in cartoons)

originOf Latin origin, via or reinforced by Old French matriarche, from Latin māter (“mother”) + -archa, -arches, from Ancient Greek -άρχης (-árkhēs), from ἀρχός (arkhós, “chief”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ergʰ- (“to begin, rule, command”). By surface analysis, matri- + -arch.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0