intelligence and aptitude (merit) above all else, being the combination of the root of Latin origin "merit" (from "mereo" meaning "earn") and the Ancient Greek suffix "-cracy" (meaning "power", "rule"). The purely Greek word is axiocracy ??????????, from axios (?????, worthy) + "-cracy" (-??????, power).

In this book the term had distinctly negative connotations as Young questioned both the legitimacy of the selection process used to become a member of this elite and the