What is the difference between Polygamy and Bigamy?

A lot of people might find it very easy to explain what the term polygamy means because it is a common term, whereas they might end up making a big mistake trying to think that bigamy is a type of marriage where one has two marriage partners at once.

This is not true at all because the term bigamy is usually considered a criminal offense. Bigamy refers to a type of marriage where an individual is legally married to someone and also has another secondary spouse. Polygamy, on the other hand, is a type of marriage where one is allowed to have more than one marriage partner.

From these definitions, it is clear that the number one difference between the two terms is not based on the number of marriage partners one can have in the two types of marriages. In polygamy, all the spouses in that family know about one another, whereas this is not the case with bigamy.

Polygamy and Bigamy are two terms related to marriage. Polygamy is when a person has a number of marriages. It is when a man has a number of wives. Polygamy is related to religion, where it is a religious practice for a man to have many wives. This is predominantly practiced in African cultures and in the religion of Islam.

While polygamy is a practice, bigamy is a crime. It is also when a person has two marriages, but it is a legal term. It refers to when a person is already legally married and gets into another marriage with someone.

If you have the basic knowledge of the terms that make up these words, it gives us idea about what these words might most likely mean. "Poly" means many, "bi" means two, and "gamy" means marriage. Hence, we have a clue that polygamy can be related to "many marriages", while bigamy can be related to "two marriages". But normally, bigamy is actually an offence in the court of law where a legally married person gets involved in another gets involved in another marital affair.

Polygamy, in contrast, simply refers to a phenomenon when one (a man) is married to many wives. So the different between these is not basically in the number of spouses or marriages. While bigamy is considered a crime, polygamy is considered a religious practice (among the Muslims especially). Bigamy has to do with the two spouses not knowing themselves and living in different households, while in polygamy, the spouses know themselves and are most likely living in the same household.