Majorettes

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A team of female performers known for baton twirling and synchronized dance, often seen in parades and competitive events
2. Young women who entertain audiences with coordinated routines that involve both twirling batons and dancing, typically within marching ensembles
3. Groups of young women who perform choreographed dance routines while skillfully spinning batons in parades or competitions

Etymology: "Majorettes" is the plural of "majorette", and the word's history is a story of a military rank shrinking into a feminine diminutive. The "major" in it is the same word as the officer's rank, and the "-ette" is a French diminutive ending that English borrowed in words like "kitchenette" and "statuette." The original sense was a drum major, the leader who marched at the head of a band, and the word was shortened from "drum majorette" to "majorette" by simply dropping the first element. The word is a doublet of "marjoret," a related form that came into English by a separate route, so both spellings descend from the same source. The feminine form preserves the sense of a leader at the front of a parade, which is why the modern performers who twirl batons and lead routines in procession carry the name of a band's head.

Synonyms: performers, dancers