fouetté

American  

[fwe-tey] / fwɛˈteɪ /

noun

Ballet.

fouettés plural

1. a whipping movement of the free leg, often executed during a turn.

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fouetté British  

/ fwete /

noun

1. a step in ballet in which the dancer stands on one foot and makes a whiplike movement with the other

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• fouettés
  plural

Etymology

Origin of fouetté

1820–30; < French, past participle of fouetter to whip

Example Sentences

Whirling through her whipping fouetté turns as the predatory Odile in the third act, could she have kept spinning till spring?

From Washington Post • Feb. 10, 2022

In Eliot’s book, Mr. Mistoffelees is a precious creation; in the musical, he is a gay icon, bedazzled like the night sky, sometimes pulling off twenty-four fouetté turns in a row.

From The New Yorker • Dec. 16, 2019

Arabesque, fouetté turn, soulful liquid melt to the mat with her arms outstretched.

From Slate • Jul. 23, 2018

But given his skill and my incompetence, this was like a ballerina demonstrating a fouetté for a toddler with a broken leg.

From The Guardian • Sep. 17, 2017

It’s no secret that she’s faced difficulty executing Odile’s famous 32 whipping fouetté turns.

From New York Times • May 9, 2017