Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

petit maître

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.20 in modern English

Syllables: pe-tit -maitre
IPA

14

Scrabble Score

11

Letters

3

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A fop or dandy.

Archaic

noun

A lesser master of something, especially of some artistic skill; a minor talent.

Derogatory

Example Sentences

"The unfortunate petit maitre, driven to the extremity of his condescension, acknowledged it to be a masterly refinement […]."
"Monstrous critical overkill of an even more up-market kind has transformed the Argentinian petit maître, Borges, into one of the Great Writers of our Time and his most recent collection, The Book of Sand […] shows signs that he is content humbly to acquiesce in this opinion."
"The point of this survey is to present Calder as a giant of modernism instead of a petit-maître of whimsical toys."

Etymology

From French petit-maître.

Usage

Inflected Forms

petits maîtres (plural)

Synonyms

macaroni popinjay barbermonger beau blade blood buck carpet knight cockscomb dandy dike dood

Questions

What does petit maître mean?: A fop or dandy.
Where does petit maître come from?: From French petit-maître.

How to pronounce petit maître

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