The pater familias, also written as paterfamilias (plural "patres familias"), was the head of a Roman family. The "pater familias" was the oldest living male in a household, and exercised autocratic authority over his extended family. The term is Latin for "father of the family" or the "owner of the family estate". The form is archaic in Latin, preserving the old genitive ending in (see Latin declension), whereas in classical Latin the normal first declension genitive singular ending was . The "pater familias" always had to be a Roman citizen.