# cadet

> English word · Noun · IPA /kəˈdɛt/ · frequency rank #18,261

## Definitions
1. A student at a military school who is training to be an officer.
2. A younger or youngest son, who would not inherit as a firstborn son would.
3. Junior. (See also the heraldic term cadency.)
4. A young man who makes a business of ruining girls to put them in brothels.
5. A young gentleman learning sheep farming at a station; also, any young man attached to a sheep station.
6. A participant in a cadetship.

## Etymology
Borrowed from French cadet, from Gascon capdet, from Late Latin capitellum (“small head”). Attested in English from 1634.
Doublet of caddie, cadeau, cadel, capital, capitellum, and caudillo.

## Easily confused with
- **cat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cadet-vs-cat)
- **CET** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cadet-vs-cet)
- **care** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cadet-vs-care)
- **case** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cadet-vs-case)
- **came** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cadet-vs-came)
- **code** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cadet-vs-code)
- **cast** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cadet-vs-cast)
- **cake** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cadet-vs-cake)
- **cant** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cadet-vs-cant)
- **cape** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cadet-vs-cape)
- **cave** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cadet-vs-cave)
- **cage** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cadet-vs-cage)
- **cart** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cadet-vs-cart)
- **cane** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cadet-vs-cane)
- **café** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cadet-vs-cafe)
- **capt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cadet-vs-capt)
- **Chet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cadet-vs-chet)
- **cate** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cadet-vs-cate)
- **cede** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cadet-vs-cede)
- **Caen** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cadet-vs-caen)

## Common misspellings (7)
`acdet`, `caddet`, `cadett`, `cadte`, `caedt`, `ccadet`, `cdaet`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/cadet