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

• 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

An Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) cadet died during a summer training camp at Fort Knox, Kentucky, officials announced on Saturday. —Danielle Wallace, FOXNews.com, 28 July 2025

Researchers examined how both civilians and military officer cadets responded to moral dilemmas under coercion, and the results were striking: A civilian's sense of agency dropped just as much as a soldier’s when following orders. —Jenny Lehmann, Discover Magazine, 11 June 2025

In a nod to presidential tradition, Trump also pardoned about half a dozen cadets who had faced disciplinary infractions. —Seung Min Kim, Arkansas Online, 25 May 2025

Minutes after clearing the dock, the vessel's three 147-foot (44.8-meter) masts were sheered by the underside of the bridge, Reuters reported, knocking several naval cadets off its crossbeams. —Hugh Cameron, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 May 2025

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
• brevet
• 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