The story
- Latin · derived fromnepōs“nephew”
- Italian · derived fromnepotismo
- French · borrowed fromnépotisme
- English todaynepotism
Borrowed from French népotisme, from Italian nepotismo, from Latin nepōs (“nephew”), a reference to the practice of popes appointing relatives (most often nephews) as cardinals (cardinal-nephew) during the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
Words from the same roots
Latinnepōs all →
nepotarchynepoticidal
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.