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

Take this, the first line of the demented aristo preface by Lord Charles Fitzroy: "It was down in the crypt of St Paul's cathedral that I first discovered that Boris was my cousin."

From The Guardian • May 22, 2013

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

You are an aristo, citizen," she said, gazing with well-feigned admiration on the two sleuth-hounds who stood in wait in the anteroom; "it makes me proud to see so many citizens at my door.

From El Dorado, an adventure of the Scarlet Pimpernel by Orczy, Emmuska Orczy, Baroness