linkage

Short definition from Wiktionary

Noun

1. 1
   A mechanical device that connects things.
2. 2
   A connection or relation between things or ideas.
3. 3
   The act or result of linking: the combination of multiple object files into one executable, library, or object file.
4. 4
   The property of genes of being inherited together.
5. 5
   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.
6. 6
   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.