patriciate means the rank of a patrician. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 85 out of 100.
Etymology
From Medieval Latin patriciātus. By surface analysis, patrician + -ate.
noun
- The rank of a patrician
- The aristocracy or nobility“The idea of his frivolity had, no doubt, to do with his personal designation, which represented—as yet, for our young woman, a little confusedly—a connection with an historic patriciate, a class that, in turn, also confusedly, represented an affinity with a social element that she had never heard otherwise described than as "fashion."”
- the non-noble upper class, or the upper bourgeoisie