aristo

¹ American  

[uh-ris-toh] / əˈrɪs toʊ /

noun

Chiefly British Informal.

plural

aristos

1. aristocrat.

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aristo- ² American  

1. a learned borrowing from Greek meaning “best,” occurring either in direct loans (aristocratic ), or in the formation of compound words.

   aristotype.

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aristo British  

/ əˈrɪstəʊ, ˈærɪstəʊ /

noun

1. informal short for aristocrat

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Etymology

Origin of aristo¹

1860–65; by shortening; -o

Origin of aristo-²

< Greek, combining form of áristos best, superlative of ari- probably a term specifying at first the upper class of society, the warrior caste; Ares, perhaps Aryan

Example Sentences

Raised in a San Francisco orphanage, educated at Princeton, he has fathered two sets of twins with his Scottish aristo wife, who is herself “eighteenth cousin to the Queen twice removed or something.”

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 8, 2020

A relaxed dinner followed by a video, one year The Man Who Bought Mustique, about the eccentric British aristo Colin Tennant, who developed the private island where Bowie owned a Batik villa.

From The Guardian • Jan. 16, 2016

Instead of trying to look merely healthy—just naturally lustrous—women now strive to look as much as possible like a bewigged aristo of yore.

From Slate • May 14, 2012

What makes the book so irresistible is not the aristo name-check: Corsini, Pucci, Borghese, Pignatelli.

From New York Times • Jun. 22, 2011

The combined toning solution used for aristo paper is the best solution for the plain paper.

From Harper's Round Table, June 11, 1895 by Various