cadet

noun

ca·​det kə-ˈdet How to pronounce cadet (audio)
plural cadets
Synonyms of cadetnext
1
a
: a younger brother or son
b
: youngest son
c
: a younger branch of a family or a member of it
2
a
: a person in training for a military or naval commission
especially : a student in a service academy
b
: a student at a police academy : a person who is in training to become a police officer
During his swearing-in speech last August, the 54-year-old head cop pointed out that he still wears the same size uniform that he wore when he was a cadet at the Police Academy 34 years ago.— Bernard C. Parks
3
slang : pimp
cadetship
kə-ˈdet-ˌship How to pronounce cadet (audio)
noun

Synonyms

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Examples of cadet in a Sentence

the hooker claims she turned all her dough in to her cadet last night
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
If the Army wasn’t sure how to run the Academy, neither was the government—in 1811, the Secretary of War ordered most of the cadets away for service elsewhere in the Army, effectively shutting it down for a year and a half. — Ryan Shaw / Made By History, TIME, 24 Feb. 2025 Some open to all Coast Guard cadets include the Asian Pacific American Council, Women’s Leadership Council, Hillel, Compañeros, International Cadet Council, Tribal Council and Diversity Peer Educators. — Lisa Hagen, Hartford Courant, 1 Feb. 2025 The child opened the front door carrying the armed weapon to a cadet who came to serve a subpoena at the property on Inn Road on Saturday, Jan. 25, the Battle Creek Police Department stated in a news release. — Escher Walcott, People.com, 27 Jan. 2025 For the cadets and midshipmen on the field, a career playing professional football is unlikely. — Kyle Feldscher, CNN, 13 Dec. 2024 See All Example Sentences for cadet

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French, going back to Middle French, borrowed from Gascon (15th-century) capdet "chief, captain" (Old Occitan capdel), going back to Vulgar Latin *capitellus "leader," from Latin capit-, caput "head" + -ellus, diminutive suffix, originally from noun stems ending in -ul-, -r-, and -n- — more at head entry 1

Note: Compare capital entry 3, caudillo. In the fifteenth century the younger sons of Gascon nobles, lacking an inheritance, were recruited into the French army to learn the military profession. In this context the Gascon word was loaned into French, but with the sense "younger son," the characteristic feature of these men to the French, rather than with its Gascon meaning. The Gascon connection was soon lost. The -t of capdet shows the peculiar outcome of Latin geminate -ll- in Gascon. The cluster -pd- was simplified in French to -d-.

First Known Use

1610, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of cadet was in 1610

Phrases Containing cadet

Rhymes for cadet

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Browse Nearby Words

cadet
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Cite this Entry

“Cadet.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cadet. Accessed 21 Mar. 2025.

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Kids Definition

cadet

noun
ca·​det kə-ˈdet How to pronounce cadet (audio)
1
: a student military officer
2
: a student at a military school
cadetship
-ˌship How to pronounce cadet (audio)
noun
Etymology

from French cadet "a younger brother or son, one training for military service," derived from Latin capitellum, literally, "little (younger) head or chief," from caput "head" — related to cad, caddie, capital, captain, chief see Word History at caddie

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