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DictionaryRoot: kratos
Greek

kratos

strength, power, or rule

Forms

  • kratos
  • crat- — A Latin-style spelling retained in English.
  • -cracy — Developed from related Greek words for rule.

Origin

An inherited Greek word with older Indo-European ancestry.

Note

Strength can become the ability or authority to govern.

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noun

aristocrat

uh-RIS-tuh-krat/əˈrɪstəkræt/

A person belonging to a noble or privileged social class.

The young aristocrat inherits a title and a large country estate.

A British nobleman in eighteenth-century peerage robes holds a small coronet at his waist, making hereditary noble rank visible rather than merely suggesting wealth.
Etymology
aristoGreekbest or noblest
+cratGreekstrength, power, or rule

“Best” and “rule” originally described government by the best citizens. As “best” came to mean privileged by birth or wealth, an aristocrat became a member of that upper class.

In context

Crossroads of Epochs32:15
of the Great Siege. They were no longer required to be hardened warriors. Instead, the order became a finishing school for the younger sons of Europe's noblest families. A young aristocrat would come to Malta
HOSPITALLERS: Forswearing the Oath? From Monks to Pirates.

More examples

  • The portrait depicts an aristocrat in formal dress.
  • Several aristocrats supported the reform movement.
  • She rejected the privileges expected of an aristocrat.

Forms

aristocrat · aristocrats

Similar words

noble
Usually a person with an officially recognized hereditary title.
patrician
Often an established upper-class person without a formal noble title.