This word, created in the 1960s, is a combination of the Latin phrase “ad hoc,” meaning “something created for a specific purpose,” and “bureaucracy,” meaning “a system where elected officials make decisions.” If you’ve ever been a part of an informal group or a project with few regulations, that’s an adhocracy. There are likely no official rules or leaders; if those begin to form, the group is moving into a different type of “-cracy.” The combining form “-cracy” comes from the Greek “-kratia,” meaning “power, rule.”