ballet

English

A pas de deux of a production of the ballet Don Quixote.

Etymology

Borrowed from French ballet, from Italian balletto (“short dance, ballet”), diminutive form of ballo (“ball”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbæleɪ/, /bælɪ/
• (General American) enPR: bă-lāʹ, băʹlā(') IPA^(key): /bæˈleɪ/, /ˈbæ(ˌ)leɪ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æleɪ, -æli, -eɪ
• Hyphenation: bal‧let

Noun

ballet (countable and uncountable, plural ballets)

1. A classical form of dance.
2. A theatrical presentation of such dancing, usually with music, sometimes in the form of a story.
3. The company of persons who perform this dance.
4. (music) A light part song, frequently with a fa-la-la chorus, common among Elizabethan and Italian Renaissance composers.
5. (heraldry) A bearing in coats of arms representing one or more balls, called bezants, plates, etc., according to colour.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for ballet in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

Derived terms

Derived terms

• ballet dancer
• ballet flats

• balletlike
• ballet music

Translations

form of dance

• Albanian: balet (sq) m
• Arabic: بَالِيه‎ m (bālēh)
• Armenian: բալետ (hy) (balet)
• Azerbaijani: balet (az)
• Belarusian: бале́т m (baljét)
• Bengali: ব্যালে (bjale)
• Bulgarian: бале́т m (balét)
• Burmese: ဘဲလေး (my) (bhai:le:)
• Catalan: ballet m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 芭蕾舞 (zh) (bālěiwǔ), 舞劇 (zh), 舞剧 (zh) (wǔjù)

• Czech: balet (cs) m
• Danish: ballet c
• Dutch: ballet (nl)
• Estonian: ballett
• Finnish: baletti (fi)
• French: ballet (fr) m
• Georgian: ბალეტი (baleṭi)
• German: Ballett (de) n
• Greek: μπαλλέτο (balléto)
• Greenlandic: balletti
• Hebrew: בָּלֵט‎ (he) m (balét)
• Hindi: बैले (baile)
• Icelandic: ballett (is) m, listdans (is) m, leikdans m
• Indonesian: balet (id)
• Irish: bailé m
• Italian: balletto (it) m
• Japanese: バレエ (ja) (barē)
• Kalmyk: балет (balet)
• Kazakh: балет (kk) (balet)
• Korean: 발레 (ko) (balle)

• Kyrgyz: балет (ky) (balet)
• Lao: ບາເລ (lo) (bā lē)
• Latvian: balets (lv) m
• Lithuanian: baletas (lt) m
• Macedonian: бале́т m (balét)
• Malay: balet
• Mongolian: балет (balet)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ballett m

  Nynorsk: ballett m

• Persian: باله‎ (fa) (bâle), رقص باله‎ (raqs-e bâle)
• Polish: balet (pl) m
• Portuguese: balé (pt) m
• Romanian: balet (ro) n
• Russian: бале́т (ru) m (balét)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: балет m

  Roman: balet (sh) m

• Slovak: balet m
• Slovene: balet (sl) m
• Spanish: ballet (es) m, baile (es) m
• Swedish: balett (sv) c
• Tajik: балет (balet)
• Thai: บัลเลต์ (ban-lêe)
• Turkish: bale (tr)
• Turkmen: balet (tk)
• Ukrainian: бале́т (uk) m (balét)
• Urdu: بیلی‎ (bailē)
• Uzbek: balet (uz)
• Vietnamese: ba lê (vi), vở ballet
• Yiddish: באַלעט‎ (balet)

theatrical presentation

• Armenian: բալետ (hy) (balet)
• Catalan: ballet m
• Czech: balet (cs) m
• Danish: ballet c
• Esperanto: baleto (eo)
• Finnish: baletti (fi)
• French: ballet (fr) m
• German: Ballett (de) n
• Irish: bailé m
• Kalmyk: балет (balet)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ballett m

  Nynorsk: ballett m

• Portuguese: balé (pt) m
• Romanian: balet (ro) n
• Russian: бале́т (ru) m (balét)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: балет m

  Latin: balet (sh) m

• Swedish: balett (sv) c

company of persons

• Catalan: ballet m

• Finnish: baletti (fi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Crimean Tatar: ^{(please verify)} balet
• Ido: ^{(please verify)} baleto (io)

• Volapük: ^{(please verify)} baolet (vo)

Verb

ballet (third-person singular simple present ballets, present participle balleting, simple past and past participle balleted)

1. To perform an action reminiscent of ballet dancing.
   • 2014 Rutherford's Vascular Surgery E-Book - Page 1340

     Situations that typically require longer iliac limbs than the measurements suggest include extreme iliac tortuosity, “balleting” of the limbs (Endurant and Excluder) (Fig. 90-3), and the need to extend to the external iliac arteries. It these anatomic circumstances, it is prudent to choose a longer length when in doubt.

   • 2016 Jacob Russell Dring, "Endless the Chase"

     Unfortunately, he could only sustain so much abuse. Footfalls approached. Kanoa's lips smacked and his jaw hung open. His eyelids fluttered, their underlying gaze balleting without clarity. He felt beyond sick, and his world spun immensely. A garbled voice of incoherency seemed to be his only link to this realm of consciousness.

   • 2017 Num Nums "A Total Bust a Move" The ZhuZhus

     Frankie's obviously going to ballet her way to the trophy.

See also

• mime
• modern dance

Anagrams

• betall

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Catalan

Noun

ballet m (plural ballets)

1. ballet

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Chavacano

Etymology

Borrowed from English ballet, from French ballet, from Italian balletto (“short dance, ballet”), diminutive form of ballo (“ball”).

Noun

ballet

1. ballet (dance tradition and style)

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Danish

Etymology

Either from French ballet or directly from Italian balletto, the diminutive form of ballo (“dance, ball”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /balɛt/, [b̥aˈlɛd̥]

Noun

ballet c (singular definite balletten, plural indefinite balletter)

1. ballet

Inflection

Declension of ballet

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	ballet	balletten	balletter	balletterne
genitive	ballets	ballettens	balletters	balletternes

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French

Etymology

From Italian balletto.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ba.lɛ/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

ballet m (plural ballets)

1. ballet

Further reading

• “ballet” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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German

Verb

ballet

1. Second-person plural subjunctive I of ballen.

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Northern Sami

Pronunciation

• (Kautokeino) IPA^(key): /ˈpalleh(t)/

Verb

ballet

1. inflection of ballat:
   1. third-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person singular past indicative
   3. second-person plural imperative

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Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

ballet n

1. definite singular of ball (Etymology 2)

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

ballet n

1. definite singular of ball (Etymology 2)

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Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baˈle/, /baˈlet/

Noun

ballet m (uncountable)

1. ballet