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

They train her in aristo ways in a wan “My Fair Lady”-style tutoring session.

From New York Times • Apr. 24, 2017

Peter Sandys-Clarke also does his bit as the self-regarding aristo.

From The Guardian • Apr. 15, 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

Marguerite was not a woman easily forgotten, and her marriage with an English "aristo" did not please those republican circles who had looked upon her as their queen.

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