Other forms: cronies
A crony is a close friend, especially one given unfair favours. His old cronies, drinking cronies, cronies in government.
The word has soured: it once meant simply a long-standing friend and now nearly always implies favouritism. Cronyism is favouring friends where nepotism is favouring family. It began as Cambridge student slang, from a Greek word meaning long-lasting — a crony was a friend of long standing.
1nouncronyA close friend, especially one given unfair favours.
“The president gave the building contracts to his cronies instead of the cheapest firms.”
crony is a friend.
Coined as Cambridge student slang in the seventeenth century, from Greek chronios, long-lasting. Chronic comes from the same time.
Ancient Greek
χρόνιος — perennial, long-lasting
English, today
crony
Built from
Coined between 1655 and 1665 from Ancient Greek χρόνιος (“perennial, long-lasting”); see also chrono- (“time”). Initially Cambridge University slang, in sense of “chum”, as “friend of long standing”, with illegal connotation later. Early spellings included chrony, as in 1665 diary by Samuel Pepys, supporting the Greek origin.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA