1846, from French phalanstère, name for one of the socialistic communities of c.1,800 people, living together as family, proposed as the basic unit of society in the system of French social scientist Fran?ois-Marie-Charles Fourier (1772-1837), coined by Fourier from phalange, properly "phalanx" (see phalanx) + ending after monastère "monastery."