/kəˈdɛt/
OriginBorrowed 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.
- A student at a military school who is training to be an officer.
- A younger or youngest son, who would not inherit as a firstborn son would.
“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.”
- in-compoundsJunior. (See also the heraldic term cadency.)
“a cadet branch of the family”
- US, archaic, slangA young man who makes a business of ruining girls to put them in brothels.
- New-Zealand, historicalA young gentleman learning sheep farming at a station; also, any young man attached to a sheep station.
- AustraliaA participant in a cadetship.
Formscadets(plural) · Cadets(plural)