Etymology

elitism

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Today it means: The belief that a society or system should be run by an elite. Full definition →

English elite ← Middle English elit ← Old French eslit
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁éǵʰ
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₁éǵʰs
  3. Proto-Italic*eks
  4. Latinex
  5. Latinex-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*leǵ-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*léǵeti
  8. Proto-Italic*legō
  9. Latinlegō
  10. Latinēligō
  11. Latinēlēctus
  12. Vulgar Latin*exlectus?
  13. Old Frencheslit
  14. Middle Englishelit
  15. Englishelite
  16. English todayelitism

From elite + -ism. First attested in the 1930s.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.