kakistocracy
weak government
TRANSLATION
kakistocracy = ein Staat oder eine Gesellschaft, die von ihren am wenigsten geeigneten oder kompetenten Bürgern regiert wird
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
“KAKISTOCRACY is one of those words so seldom heard that it might be taken to represent something that never existed. [. . .] It means “a government by the worst men.” [. . .] The purpose of this paper is to highlight our kakistocratic tendencies and to offer a few thoughts as to how they can be halted and reversed."
Leonard E. Read — The Foundation for Economic Education
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"KAKISTOCRACY, A 374-Year-Old Word, Goes Viral After Tweet Slams Trump. The word gained traction when former CIA director John O. Brennan tweeted at President Donald Trump: ‘Your KAKISTOCRACY is collapsing after its lamentable journey’.”
Avi Selk — The Washington Post
Did you
know?
kakistocracy
noun
- a state or society governed by its least suitable or competent citizens
Oxford Languages
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WORD ORIGIN
“Kakistocracy” meaning ”government by the worst element of a society”, was coined by Thomas Love Peacock in 1829.
Based on analogy of its opposite, “aristocracy”, from Greek kakistos "worst”, superlative of kakos "bad" + -cracy.
Perhaps the closest word in ancient Greek was kakonomia "a bad system of laws and government" hence kakonomos "with bad laws, ill-governed”, also from 1829.
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FORGOTTEN VOCABULARY!
Perhaps we should also revive these other useful words from the past:
- apricity (17th century) = the warmth of the sun in winter.
- duffifie (19th century) = to lay a bottle on its side — after drinking its contents — to collect the few remaining drops, which can then be poured (or dribbled) into a glass.
- fudgel (18th century) = pretending to work while actually doing nothing.
- lethologica (early 20th century) = when you cannot recall the precise word for something.
- lanspresado (18th century) = someone who always conveniently shows up with no money.
- librocubicularist (mid 20th century) = a person who reads books in bed.
- moonglade (19th century) = the reflection the full moon makes on the water.
- namelings (19th century) = two or more persons that have the same name.
- nibling (mid 20th century) = a non-gender word for niece or nephew (like sibling).
- petrichor (mid 20th century) = the smell of the earth after rain.
- psithurism (19th century) = the sound of rustling leaves or wind in the trees.
- scurryfunge (18th century) = to rush around cleaning when visitors are on their way over.
- zenosyne* = the sense that time keeps going faster.
*Coined in 2012 by John Koenig in “The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows”, a project to create a compendium of invented words for every emotion we might all experience but don’t yet have a word for.
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SMUGGLE OWAD into an English conversation, say something like:
“How appropriate is the word KAKISTOCRACY to what is happening in the world today!”
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THANKS to Jenny for suggesting today’s OWAD.
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