non-democratic

The word is a modern English formation built by adding the Latin negative prefix 'non-' to the established adjective 'democratic.' The adjective 'democratic' itself has a rich lineage, entering English via French 'démocratique' from Late Latin 'democraticus,' which was borrowed from Greek 'dēmokratikos.' The Greek source is a compound of 'dēmos' (common people, citizenry) and 'kratos' (strength, power, rule), thus literally meaning "pertaining to rule by the people." Therefore, 'non-democratic' logically and transparently denotes systems or practices that are characterized by the absence of this popular rule, encompassing a range of authoritarian, autocratic, or oligarchic forms of governance.

Structure: non (not) + democratic (relating to democracy) - non: A prefix of Latin origin, meaning "not." It functions as a negative or privative prefix, indicating the absence or opposite of the quality denoted by the base word. - democratic: An adjective of Greek origin, from 'demos' (people) and 'kratos' (power, rule). It functions as the base word describing a system of government by the whole population.