Meaning

noun a form of social system in which power goes to those with superior intellects

noun the belief that rulers should be chosen for their superior abilities and not because of their wealth or birth

originFrom merit + -o- + -cracy, coined by British sociologist Alan Fox in 1956 in an article in Socialist Commentary from May 1956, used as a derisive term, and popularized by British sociologist Michael Young, Baron Young of Dartington in his 1958 book The Rise of the Meritocracy.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0