Pierrot

See also: pierrot and Pièrrot

English

Etymology

French Pierrot, diminutive of Pierre (“Peter”) via diminutive suffix -ot.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɪəˈɹəʊ/, /pjɛˈɹəʊ/
• Rhymes: -əʊ

Pierrot and Harlequin (Paul Cézanne)

Common Pierrot (Castalius rosimon)

Proper noun

Pierrot (plural Pierrots)

1. A character from French pantomime; a buffoon in a loose white outfit; a popular choice for a masquerade costume.

   Coordinate term: Pierrette

   • 1912, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, The Brothers Karamazov, published 1880, Book II, chapter 8:

     I'll win them by politeness, and... and... show them that I've nothing to do with that Aesop, that buffoon, that Pierrot, and have merely been taken in over this affair, just as they have.

   • 1934, P. G. Wodehouse, Right Ho, Jeeves:

     And he was attending that fancy-dress ball, mark you--not, like every other well-bred Englishman, as a Pierrot, but as Mephistopheles […]
     "He said that the costume of Pierrot, while pleasing to the eye, lacked the authority of the Mephistopheles costume."

   • 2019, Karl Toepfer, Pantomime, page 741:

     The rest of the family then invades the studio, three boys dressed as Pierrots and three girls dressed as Pierrettes.

Translations

buffoon

• Esperanto: Peĉjo (eo)
• French: Pierrot (fr)
• Italian: Pedrolino
• Japanese: ピエロ (ja) (Piero)
• Russian: Пьеро́ m (Pʹjeró)

Anagrams

• preriot, pretoir

French

Etymology

From Pierre (“Peter”) +‎ -ot (diminutive suffix).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pjɛ.ʁo/ ~ /pje.ʁo/

• Audio:

  (file)

Proper noun

Pierrot m

1. a diminutive of the male given name Pierre (Pierre, "Peter")
2. a character from French pantomime; a buffoon in a loose white outfit

Related terms

• Pierre
• Pierrette
• Poirot

 

Descendants

• → Japanese: ピエロ (piero)
• → Korean: 피에로 (piero)

Anagrams

• portier

Norman

Proper noun

Pierrot m

1. a male given name, equivalent to French Pierrot

Related terms

• Piérotin