subcircle

noun

1. A lesser circle.

   “If the building hadn’t been reduced to a pile of rubble, he’d have been there on Sunday, too, for what he called family night: a small dinner with a subcircle of the regulars, often potluck. Mr. Shuff would bring his “auntie’s red rice”; the super and his wife from a building next to Fubar would bring a roast or some deviled eggs.”