ballerina shoe

noun

plural ballerina shoes

: a ballet shoe for a woman or girl

Two years and several pairs of ballerina shoes later, [Jordan] Miller was offered a scholarship to study at the School of American Ballet in New York, so she packed her bags and headed to the big city.

—Julie Crothers

Designers draw their ideas from the streets and sometimes from places they take out of context. For example, ballerina shoes that were traditionally worn for dancing have been redesigned for street wear.

—Jenna Cho

Word History

First Known Use

1941, in the meaning defined above