Polycule

A polycule is the web of people connected to one another through polyamorous relationships. The word blends 'polyamory' with 'molecule', a nod to the way atoms bond together in a molecular structure. It seems to have entered common use around the early 2010s. A polycule can include a person's partners, those partners' other partners, and so on, forming a structure with varying closeness among its members. Not everyone in a polycule is romantically or sexually involved with everyone else. Common shapes have their own names, such as a 'V', where one person dates two people who are not dating each other, or a 'triad' or 'throuple', where all three people are involved with one another. Members often describe a polycule as a kind of extended chosen family.