nepotism

English

WOTD - 26 January 2008    

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Italian nepotismo, from Latin nepōs (“nephew”), a reference to the practice of popes appointing relatives (most often nephews) as cardinals during the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

Pronunciation

• (RP, US) IPA: /ˈnɛp.ə.tɪ.zəm/, SAMPA: /"nEp.@.tI.z@m/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

nepotism (countable and uncountable; plural nepotisms)

1. The favoring of relatives or personal friends because of their relationship rather than because of their abilities.

   Nepotism can get you very far in the world if you've got the right connections.

   • 2006 September 27, “China airbrushes Chen”, Financial Times:

     Mr Chen - a member of the national politburo as well as the Shanghai boss - is accused of nepotism and corruption on a grand scale: protecting political allies, granting preferment to his family and looting Shanghai's pension fund.

Antonyms

• meritocracy
• merit system

Coordinate terms

• cronyism

Related terms

• nepotistic, nepotistical

Translations

favoring of relatives or personal friends

Bulgarian: шуробадженащина (bg) (shurobadjenashtina) f. Catalan: nepotisme (ca) m. Czech: nepotismus (cs) m., nepotizmus (cs) m. Dutch: nepotisme n., vriendjespolitiek Esperanto: nepotismo (eo) Finnish: nepotismi (fi) French: népotisme (fr) m., copinage (fr) m. German: Nepotismus (de) m., Vetternwirtschaft (de) f. Hebrew: נפוטיזם (nepotizm) m. Icelandic: frændhygli (is) f.

Ido: nepotismo (io) Italian: nepotismo (it) m. Khmer: ញាតិមិត្តនិយម (km) (nheat mit niyom) Mandinka: baadinfaasaa Polish: nepotyzm (pl) m. Portuguese: nepotismo (pt) m. Romanian: nepotism (ro) n. Russian: непотизм (ru) (nepotízm) m., кумовство (ru) (kumovstvó) n. Spanish: nepotismo (es) m. Swedish: nepotism (sv) c., svågerpolitik (sv) c. Turkish: kayırmak (tr)

Anagrams

• pimentos

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Romanian

Etymology

Latin nepos

Noun

nepotism n.

1. nepotism

Related terms

• nepot
• nepoată
• nepoțel
• nepoțică
• nepoție