cadet
/kəˈdɛt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.35 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A student at a military school who is training to be an officer.
noun
A young man who makes a business of ruining girls to put them in brothels.
American usage; Archaic; Slang
noun
A young gentleman learning sheep farming at a station; also, any young man attached to a sheep station.
New Zealand usage
noun
Alternative form of Kadet
name
A surname from French.
Example Sentences
- "Bertram is certainly well off for a cadet of even a Baronet's family. By the time he is four or five and twenty he will have seven hundred a year, and nothing to do for it."
- "a cadet branch of the family"
Etymology
Borrowed from French cadet, from Gascon capdet, from Late Latin capitellum (“small head”). Attested in English from 1634. Doublet of caddie, cadeau, cadel, capital, capitellum, and caudillo.
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
- Root: *kap-, cadet, capitellum
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /kəˈdɛt/
- British English: /kəˈdɛt/
Usage
- American usage
- Archaic
- Slang
- New Zealand usage
- Australian usage