aristocrat

Etymology

It is borrowed from French aristocrate,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} a word of the French Revolution,^[3][7][8] back-formed from aristocratie and aristocratique.^[6][2][5] The French noun goes back through Late Latin aristocratia to Ancient Greek ἀριστοκρατία (aristokratía, “rule of the best”),^[4][3][9] from ἄριστος (áristos, “best”) and -κρατία (-kratía, “rule”), from κράτος (krátos, “strength, power, rule”).^[5][3][10] The OED remarks that the French form does not follow Greek analogies,^[2] but Barnhart derives it from ἀριστοκράτης (aristokrátēs, “aristocrat”).^[9] According to Barnhart, aristocrate entered French in the mid-1500s, apparently fell out of use, and was reintroduced in 1778.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A member of an aristocracy or ruling oligarchy: 1786, in a letter from S. Higginson to J. Adams.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives 1787,^[6] Etymonline and Barnhart 1789,^[3][9] and Dictionary.com an earlier 1770–80.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The word first referred to the French aristocracy of the Revolution,^[8] and Barnhart sees its arrival in 1789 as a sign of how closely English speakers followed events in France.^[9] It could also mean a supporter of aristocratic government, rather than a member of the class.^[3][2][12] Its base aristocracy had already moved from "rule by the best" to "rule by a privileged class" and then to the nobility itself,^[10][13] and Etymonline glosses the noun as one having high rank in a community.^[3] An attributive use appears in 1873, in Trollope,^[2] and a figurative one in 1883, in G. Allen's piece in Knowledge.^[2] Today the word also covers a person with the bearing of a privileged class and anything regarded as the finest of its kind.^[6][12]

Timeline

• 1786 – a member of an aristocracy or ruling oligarchy; a supporter of such government.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates this to 1787, Etymonline and Barnhart to 1789.^[6][3][9]
• 1873 – attributive use, almost an adjective.^[2]
• 1883 – figurative use.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A member of the aristocracy; a noble: The estate had belonged to a Hungarian aristocrat.^[12][6][2]
2. A person with the manners or outlook of a privileged class.^[12][6]
3. Someone or something regarded as among the finest of its kind in a field.^[6][2]
4. A person who favours aristocracy as a form of government.^[12][6][2]

Word family

• aristocratic
• aristocratically

Related words

• aristocracy
• aristo-
• -crat
• -cracy

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
12. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press