eupatrid

[ yoo-pa-trid, yoo-puh- ]

noun

, plural eu·pat·ri·dae [yoo-, pa, -tri-dee].

1. one of the hereditary aristocrats of ancient Athens and other states of Greece, who at one time formed the ruling class.

eupatrid

/ juːˈpætrɪd /

noun

1. (in ancient Greece) a hereditary noble or landowner

Word History and Origins

Origin of eupatrid¹

1825–35; < Greek eupatrídēs, literally, of a good father, of noble descent, equivalent to eu- eu- + patr- (stem of patḗr ) father + -idēs -id ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of eupatrid¹

C19: via Latin from Greek eupatridēs, literally: having a good father, from eu- + patēr father

Example Sentences

"Beside her," added a Eupatrid, who pretended to be better informed than any other person upon all manner of subjects, "beside her the daughter of Cœlus and the Sea would seem but a mere Ethiopian servant."

From Project Gutenberg

He did not proceed, you may feel assured, to fix his choice upon some crabbed philosopher of frowning mien, with a flood of gray-and-white beard rolling down over a mantle in proud tatters; nor a warrior who could talk of nothing save ballista, catapults, and scythed chariots; nor a sententious Eupatrid full of counsels and politic maxims; but Gyges, whose reputation for gallantry caused him to be regarded as a connoisseur in regard to women.

From Project Gutenberg

Eupatrid, ū-pat′rid, n. a member of the Athenian aristocracy.

From Project Gutenberg

Between the Eupatrid oligarchy and the rule of Peisistratus there comes the timocracy of Solon.

From Project Gutenberg

It is not probable that the Eupatrid families were all autochthonous, even in the loose sense of that term.

From Project Gutenberg