Etymology

meritocrat

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Today it means: An advocate of meritocracy. Full definition →

Ancient Greek κρᾰ́τος (krắtos) ← Proto-Indo-European *kret- ← English merit
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The story

  1. Englishmerit
  2. Proto-Indo-European*kret-
  3. Ancient Greekκρᾰ́τος (krắtos)
  4. English todaymeritocrat

From merit + -o- + -crat.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.