elite

See also: Elite and élite

English

Alternative forms

• élite

Etymology

From Middle English elit, from Old French elit, eslit (“chosen, elected”) past participle of elire, eslire (“to choose, elect”), from Latin eligere (“to choose, elect”), with past participle electus; see elect.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪˈliːt/, /ɛˈliːt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪˈlit/, /eɪˈlit/, /əˈlit/, /iˈlit/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ɪˈliːt/, [ɪˈlɪit], /əˈliːt/, [əˈlɪit]
• (Leet) IPA^(key): /ɛˈliːt/
• Rhymes: -iːt

Adjective

elite (comparative eliter or more elite, superlative elitest or most elite)

1. Of high birth or social position; aristocratic or patrician.
2. Representing the choicest or most select of a group.
   • 2013 August 20, Louise Taylor, The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Not since Coventry in 1992 has a Premier League side kicked off a campaign with an all-English XI but things have reached the point where, of the 61 signings who have cost the elite division's 20 clubs a transfer fee this summer, only 12 have involved Englishmen.

Derived terms

• anti-elite
• elite overproduction

 

Translations

of high birth or social position

• Azerbaijani: elitar
• Belarusian: элі́тны (elítny)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 精英 (zh) (jīngyīng)

• Dutch: elitair (nl), elitaire (nl)
• Esperanto: elita
• Estonian: eliit
• Finnish: eliitti- (fi)
• French: élite (fr), élitaire (fr), d’élite
• Galician: elite f
• German: elitär (de), Elite-, Eliten-, Auslese-
• Greek: ελίτ (el) f (elít)
• Maori: hunga pakipaki
• Polish: elitarny (pl)
• Portuguese: de elite
• Russian: эли́тный (ru) (elítnyj)
• Spanish: élite (es) f
• Thai: ชั้นนำ (chán-nam)
• Ukrainian: елі́тний (elítnyj)

Noun

elite (plural elites)

1. A special group or social class of people which have a superior intellectual, social or economic status as the elite of society.
   • 2012 April 19, Josh Halliday, “Free speech haven or lawless cesspool – can the internet be civilised?”, in the Guardian‎^[2]:

     "Mujtahidd" has attracted almost 300,000 followers since the end of last year, when he began posting scandalous claims about the Saudi elite. In one tweet, Mujtahidd directly challenged Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Fahd about his political history: "Did you resign or were you forced to resign from your post as head of the diwan [office] of the council of ministers?"

2. Someone who is among the best at a certain task.
   • 2018 November 18, Phil McNulty, “England 2 - 1 Croatia”, in BBC Sport‎^[3]:

     The Nations League results have also seen England respond to an ongoing criticism that they fail to beat the top sides, with even Southgate insisting they could not be considered among the world's elite until they beat the best. The World Cup did nothing to answer those questions.

   • 1964 August 7, “France's Culture Corps”, in Time:

     Is there a nobler or more disinterested aim than to educate the cadres, the elites of tomorrow?

3. (typography) A typeface with 12 characters per inch.

   Coordinate term: pica

Derived terms

• cyberelite
• liberal elite
• metropolitan elite
• power elite
• technoelite

 

Related terms

• elect
• elitism
• elitist
• elegant
• eligible
• l33t
• select
• selection

Translations

group with higher status

• Albanian: elitë (sq) f
• Arabic: نُخْبَة f (nuḵba)
• Armenian: վերնախավ (hy) (vernaxav), էլիտա (hy) (ēlita)
• Azerbaijani: elita
• Belarusian: элі́та f (elíta)
• Bulgarian: ели́та (bg) f (elíta)
• Catalan: elit (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 精英 (zh) (jīngyīng)

• Czech: elita (cs) f
• Danish: elite c
• Dutch: elite (nl) f
• Esperanto: elito
• Estonian: eliit
• Finnish: eliitti (fi), parhaimmisto (fi)
• French: élite (fr) f
• Galician: elite f
• Georgian: ელიტა (eliṭa)
• German: Elite (de) f, Auslese (de) f, Oberschicht (de) f, Führungsschicht (de) f, Spitzengruppe (de) f, (figurative) Spitze (de) f
• Greek: ελίτ (el) f (elít), αφρόκρεμα (el) f (afrókrema)
• Hebrew: עילית (‘ilít), אליטה f (elíta)
• Hungarian: elit (hu)
• Indonesian: elite (id)
• Italian: élite (it) f
• Japanese: 選り抜き (ja) (えりぬき, erinuki), 精鋭 (ja) (せいえい, seiei), エリート (ja) (erīto)
• Kazakh: элита (élita)
• Khmer: វរជន (vɔɔ cŭən)
• Korean: 엘리트 (elliteu)
• Kyrgyz: элита (elita)
• Latvian: elite f
• Lithuanian: elitas m
• Macedonian: ели́та f (elíta)
• Malagasy: sangany (mg)
• Malay: elit
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: elite (no) m

• Persian: نخبه (fa) (noxbe), الیت (fa) (elit)
• Polish: elita (pl) f, socjeta f
• Portuguese: elite (pt) f, escol (pt) m
• Romanian: elită (ro) f
• Russian: эли́та (ru) f (elíta)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: елѝта f

  Roman: elìta (sh) f

• Slovak: elita f
• Slovene: elita f
• Spanish: élite (es) f, elite f
• Swedish: elit (sv) c
• Tagalog: kapilian
• Thai: อติชน (th) (à-dtì-chon), อภิชน (th) (à-pí-chon), ชนชั้นนำ (th) (chon-chán-nam), อีลีท (ii-lìit)
• Turkish: seçkinler (tr) pl
• Ukrainian: елі́та f (elíta)
• Uzbek: elita (uz)

person who is among the best at certain task

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 精英 (zh) (jīngyīng)

• Dutch: top-
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: huippu (fi)
• German: Elite (de) f
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Khmer: អ្នកខ្ពស់ (nĕək khpŭəh)
• Polish: najlepszy (pl) m, najlepsza f
• Portuguese: elite (pt) f
• Russian: please add this translation if you can
• Thai: ชั้นยอด (chán-yɔ̂ɔt), ชั้นนำ (chán-nam), หัวกะทิ (th) (hǔua-gà-tí)

References

• “elite”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• elite in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• “elite”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “elite”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• "elite" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 112.

Anagrams

• Eitel, Leite, Tiele

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch elite, from French élite.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

elite (plural elites)

1. elite

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French élite.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌeːˈli.tə/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: eli‧te
• Rhymes: -itə

Noun

elite f (plural elites)

1. elite (group with a high or privileged status)

Usage notes

The term may be used with negative as well as positive connotations, but negative connotations tend to predominate, especially in contemporary political discourse. Overall the term has a more negative ring than French élite or English elite.

Derived terms

• bedrijfselite
• bestuurselite
• elitair
• elite-eenheid
• elitehaver
• elitekorps
• elitetroep
• elitisme
• elitist
• elitistisch
• havermelkelite
• zakenelite

Descendants

• Afrikaans: elite
• → Indonesian: elite

Indonesian

Etymology

From Dutch elite.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /eˈlitə/ [eˈli.t̪ə]
• Rhymes: -itə
• Syllabification: e‧li‧te

Noun

élite (first-person possessive eliteku, second-person possessive elitemu, third-person possessive elitenya)

1. elite

Alternative forms

• élit (Standard Malay, nonstandard Indonesian)

Related terms

• elitisme

Further reading

• “elite” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from French élite.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /eˈli.t͡ʃi/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /eˈli.t͡ʃi/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /eˈli.te/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ɛˈli.tɨ/, /eˈli.tɨ/

• Hyphenation: e‧li‧te

Noun

elite f (plural elites)

1. elite (group with higher status)

   Synonym: escol

2. elite (person who is among the best at certain task)

Spanish

Noun

elite f (plural elites)

1. Alternative form of élite

Further reading

• “elite”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), 23rd edition, Royal Spanish Academy, 2014 October 16