Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “plutocracy” come from?

Plutocracy derives from Ancient Greek πλουτοκρατία, combining πλοῦτος (wealth) and κράτος (rule), where κράτος traces to Proto-Indo-European kret- meaning to govern or have power.

plutocracy (English): Government by the wealthy; A controlling class of...

Definitions

  1. Government by the wealthy; A controlling class of...

Ancestry of “plutocracy”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Ancient GreekπλουτοκρατίαAn oligarchy of wealth; A plutocracy
2Ancient Greekκρατέωto rule, command; to conquer, prevail, gain the...
3Ancient Greek-έωUsed to form verbs from nouns, adjectives and...
4Proto-Indo-European-éyetiForms causative imperfective verbs from roots;...
5Proto-Indo-European-yetiCreates transitive imperfective verbs from roots

Words derived from “plutocracy”

  • antiplutocracy
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -yeti →