pirouette
See also: Pirouette and pirouetté
English
WOTD – 6 February 2007
Etymology
Borrowed from French pirouette, see there for more; attested since 1706.[1]
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˌpɪ.ɹʊˈɛt/, /ˌpɪ.ɹuːˈɛt/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˌpɪ.ɹəˈwɛt/, /ˌpɪ.ɹuːˈɛt/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɛt
Noun
pirouette (plural pirouettes)
- A whirling or turning on the toes in dancing, primarily in ballet.
- The whirling about of a horse.
Translations
whirling or turning on the toes
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the whirling about of a horse
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Verb
pirouette (third-person singular simple present pirouettes, present participle pirouetting, simple past and past participle pirouetted)
- (intransitive) To perform a pirouette; to whirl on the toes, like a dancer.
- 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter VIII:
- I came down like a sack of coals. The pulse was rapid, the blood pressure high, and for awhile the Blue Room pirouetted about me like an adagio dancer.
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Translations
to perform a pirouette
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References
- Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “pirouette”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Further reading
- Glossary of ballet on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- Pirouette (dressage) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Dutch
Etymology
Borrowed from French pirouette, see there for more.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˌpi.ruˈɛ.tə/
Audio (file) - Hyphenation: pi‧rou‧et‧te
- Rhymes: -ɛtə
Noun
pirouette f (plural pirouettes or pirouetten)
- pirouette
French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /pi.ʁwɛt/
Audio (file)
Etymology 1
From a Gallo-Roman root *pir- („peg, plug“, hence Italian piruolo (“peg top”)) and -ette (diminutive suffix). The word originally meant a “spinning top” (15th century).[1]
Noun
pirouette f (plural pirouettes)
- a whirling or turning on the toes in dancing
- (sports, equestrians) a whirling volt movement made by a horse
Derived terms
- pirouetter
Descendants
- → Catalan: pirueta
- → Dutch: pirouette
- → English: pirouette
- → German: Pirouette
- → Italian: piroetta
- → Polish: piruet
- → Russian: пируэ́т (piruét)
Verb
pirouette
- inflection of pirouetter:
- first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
- second-person singular imperative
Further reading
- “pirouette”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
- Vocabulaire de la danse classique on the French Wikipedia.Wikipedia fr
References
- Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “pirouette”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.