linkage

A mechanical device that connects things.

A connection or relation between things or ideas.

(software compilation) The act or result of linking: the combination of multiple object files into one executable, library, or object file.

(genetics) The property of genes of being inherited together.

(linguistics) A set of definitely related languages for which no proto-language can be derived, typically a group of languages within a family that have formed a sprachbund.

(US, politics, historical) A United States foreign policy, during the 1970s détente in the Cold War, of persuading the Soviet Union to co-operate in restraining revolutions in the Third World in return for nuclear and economic concessions.