Standard Lemma guide

nepotism

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈnɛp.ə.tɪ.zəm/
  • Received-Pronunciation, rare: /ˈniː.pə.tɪ.zəm/
  • Canada, General-American: /ˈnɛp.ə.tɪ.zəm/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Australian: /ˈnep.ə.tɪ.zəm/
  • Queensland Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • New-Zealand: /ˈnep.ə.tə.zəm/
  • CMU ARPABET: N EH1 P AH0 T IH2 Z AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The favoring of relatives (most strictly) or also personal friends (more broadly) because of their relationship rather than because of their abilities.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

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

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: meritocracy

2

noun

Meaning 2

favoritism shown to relatives or close friends by those in power (as by giving them jobs)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: discrimination, favoritism, favouritism

History

Etymology

Borrowed from French népotisme, 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.

Across languages

Translations

61 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: nepotizëm — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Azerbaijani: qohumbazlıq — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Azerbaijani: nepotizm — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Azerbaijani: tanışbazlıq — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Bulgarian: шуробаджанащина (šurobadžanaština) — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Catalan: nepotisme — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Chinese Mandarin: 偏袒 (piāntǎn) — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Chinese Mandarin: 裙帶關係 /裙带关系 (qúndài guānxì) — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Chinese Mandarin: 任人唯親 /任人唯亲 (rènrénwéiqīn) — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Czech: rodinkářství — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Czech: nepotismus — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Czech: nepotizmus — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Danish: nepotisme — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Dutch: nepotisme — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Dutch: vriendjespolitiek — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Esperanto: nepotismo — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Estonian: onupojapoliitika — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Estonian: nepotism — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Finnish: nepotismi — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • French: népotisme — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • French: copinage — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Galician: nepotismo — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Georgian: ნეპოტიზმი (neṗoṭizmi) — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • German: Nepotismus — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • German: Vetternwirtschaft — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Greek: οικογενειοκρατία (oikogeneiokratía) — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Hebrew: נֶפּוֹטִיזְם (nepotizm) — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Hindi: भाई-भतीजावाद (bhāī-bhatījāvād) — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Hungarian: nepotizmus — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Icelandic: frændhygli — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Ido: nepotismo — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Indonesian: nepotisme — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Irish: finíochas — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Italian: nepotismo — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Japanese: 縁者贔屓 (enjabiiki) — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Khmer: ញាតិមិត្តនិយម (ñiət mɨt niyum) — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Korean: 족벌주의 (jokbeoljuui) — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Mandinka: baadinfaasaa — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Marathi: घराणेशाही (gharāṇeśāhī) — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Polish: nepotyzm — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Portuguese: nepotismo — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Romanian: nepotism — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Russian: непоти́зм (nepotízm) — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Russian: кумовство́ (kumovstvó) — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Spanish: nepotismo — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Spanish: sobrinazgo — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Swahili: upendeleo wa ndugu — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Swedish: nepotism — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Swedish: svågerpolitik — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Thai: คติเห็นแก่ญาติ — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Turkish: kayırma — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Turkish: kayırmacılık — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Turkish: adam kayırma — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Turkish: nepotizm — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Turkish: iltimas — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Turkish: kohumbazlık — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Turkish: torpil — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Ukrainian: кумі́вство (kumívstvo) — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Ukrainian: непоти́зм (nepotýzm) — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Welsh: neigarwch — favoring of relatives or personal friends
  • Welsh: neiedd — favoring of relatives or personal friends