pirouette

UK/ˌpɪ.ɹʊˈɛt//ˌpɪ.ɹəˈwɛt/

pirouette noun: a whirling or turning on the toes in dancing, primarily in ballet.

Noun

pirouette (plural pirouettes)

A whirling or turning on the toes in dancing, primarily in ballet.
- […]like what?—like the most beautiful pirouette by [Marie] Taglioni, let us say.1846, Mr. M. A. Titmarsh [pseudonym; W. M. Thackeray], Notes on a Journey from Cornhill to Grand Cairo […] , London: Chapman and Hall
- But the Emperor’s friend covered himself with glory, for he danced everything, whether he knew it or not, and introduced impromptu pirouettes when the figures bewildered him..1868–1869, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, Little Women: […], (please specify |part=1 or 2), Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, →OCLC
The whirling about of a horse.
A wooden mouthpiece assembly or lip rest used in some European double-reed instruments.

pirouette (third-person singular simple present pirouettes, present participle pirouetting, simple past and past participle pirouetted)

(intransitive) To perform a pirouette; to whirl on the toes, like a dancer.
- The way in which they dance; the height to which they spring; the impossible and inhuman extent to which they pirouette; […].1846, Charles Dickens, Pictures from Italy, London: […] Bradbury & Evans, […], →OCLC
- At last they paused, and a beautiful young woman sprang out of the ranks and began to pirouette in front of us with a grace and vigour which would have put most ballet girls to shame.1885 September, H[enry] Rider Haggard, King Solomon’s Mines, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, […], published 1887, →OCLC

twirl, spin, whirl: ഭ്രമണം, ചുറ്റ്, ചൂഴം, ചുറ്റൽ, കറക്കം, മറിച്ചുഴിവ്
whirl, spin round, twirl: ചുറ്റുക, തിരിയുക, ഭ്രമണം ചെയ്യുക, കറങ്ങുക, വട്ടം ചുറ്റുക, ചുഴലംചെയ്ക

ಗಿರಕಿ, ಗಿರಗಟೆ

"Serious as cognitohazard." Lillihammer danced down the corridor towards them, doing little pirouettes and leaping from toe to toe.2023 October 14, HarryBlank, “Face Time”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 23 May 2024:
There is no west, the sun doesn't rise / No, the sun never rests / As the Earth leans into its forever pirouette2025, “Pay Streak”, in Scratch It, performed by U.S. Girls:
The pulse was rapid, the blood pressure high, and for awhile the Blue Room pirouetted about me like an adagio dancer.1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter VIII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

Noun
plural	pirouettes
Verb
third-person singular present	pirouettes
present participle	pirouetting
past participle	pirouetted
past	pirouetted

Borrowed from French pirouette, see there for more; attested since 1706.

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

What does pirouette mean?: Pirouette means a whirling or turning on the toes in dancing, primarily in ballet.
What is pirouette in Malayalam?: Pirouette in Malayalam is ഭ്രമണം, ചുറ്റ്, ചൂഴം. See Pirouette meaning in Malayalam.
How do you use pirouette in a sentence?: "Serious as cognitohazard." Lillihammer danced down the corridor towards them, doing little pirouettes and leaping from toe to toe.
What part of speech is pirouette?: Pirouette can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce pirouette?: Pirouette is pronounced /ˌpɪ.ɹʊˈɛt/ (UK).
What is the plural of pirouette?: The plural of pirouette is pirouettes.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-pirouette.ogg.

Cite this entry: “pirouette.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pirouette. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.