cadet

noun

ca·​det kə-ˈdet 

plural cadets

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 

noun

Synonyms of cadet

• pimp

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

Competing against 34 entries from across the region, Cimini won the A-Mark Investigative Journalism Award for her reporting on the Maryland Freestate Challenge Academy, where a teen cadet said he was beaten and suffered a concussion at camp. —Bridget Byrne, Baltimore Sun, 9 May 2026

Evan Greenleigh, a cadet at The Citadel, a historic military college, has been identified as the sole victim to die in a boat crash in Shem Creek in Mount Pleasant on Saturday, April 25, ABC affiliate WCIV, CBS affiliate WCSC and NBC affiliate WCBD reported. —Sam Gillette, PEOPLE, 29 Apr. 2026

Marshall cited his efforts to design and oversee the launch of the fire department’s cadet program, which is aimed at helping city kids become firefighters, as one of his proudest career accomplishments, per the mayor’s office. —Gayla Cawley, Boston Herald, 16 Apr. 2026

One cadet met police and led them to the scene of the shooting and the wounded. —Phil Helsel, NBC news, 10 Apr. 2026

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

Phrases Containing cadet

• space cadet

Rhymes for cadet

• abet
• asset
• baguette
• banquette
• barbette
• beget
• beset
• binet
• briquette
• brunet
• brunette
• burette

Kids Definition

cadet

noun

ca·​det kə-ˈdet 

1

: a student military officer

2

: a student at a military school

cadetship

-ˌship 

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