cadet

Etymology

Borrowed from French cadet, from Gascon capdet, from Late Latin capitellum (“small head”). Attested in English from 1634. Doublet of caddy, caudillo, and capitellum.

noun

1. A student at a military school who is training to be an officer.
2. (largely historical) A younger or youngest son, who would not inherit as a firstborn son would.
3. (in compounds, chiefly in genealogy) Junior. (See also the heraldic term cadency.)
   a cadet branch of the family
4. (archaic, US, slang) A young man who makes a business of ruining girls to put them in brothels.
5. (New Zealand, historical) A young gentleman learning sheep farming at a station; also, any young man attached to a sheep station.
6. (Australia) A participant in a cadetship.