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

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

In the midst of battle, she tosses off a string of whip-around fouetté turns as if she were the Black Swan in “Swan Lake.”

From New York Times • Aug. 27, 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

And there was a small group of Marines, a little uncomfortable in their suits, ready to watch the story of their lives told onstage through incomprehensible grand jeté, fouetté en tournant and chassé.

From Washington Post