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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

cavalier.

Lacking the proper care or concern for something important, reckless, rash, high-handed.

8 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˌkævəˈlɪɚ//ˈkæ.vəˌlir/US
  1. Lacking the proper care or concern for something important, reckless, rash, high-handed.

  2. High-spirited.

  3. Supercilious.

  4. Free and easy; unconcerned with formalities

    obsolete
  5. Of or pertaining to the party of King Charles I of England (1600–1649).

    historical
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Celtic *kaballosder.? Latin caballus Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzios Latin -āriusnom. Latin -ārius Late Latin caballāriusder. Old Occitan cavalierbor. Old Italian cavalierebor. Middle French cavalierbor. English cavalier First appears c. 1562 in a translation by Peter Whitehorne. Borrowed from Middle French cavalier (“horseman”), itself borrowed from Old Italian cavaliere (“mounted soldier, knight”), borrowed from Old Occitan cavalier, from Late Latin caballārius (“horseman”), from Latin caballus (“horse”), probably from Gaulish caballos 'nag', variant of cabillos (compare Welsh ceffyl, Breton kefel, Irish capall), akin to German (Swabish) Kōb 'nag' and Old Church Slavonic кобꙑла (kobyla) 'mare'. Previous English forms include cavalero and cavaliero. Doublet of caballero and chevalier.

noun/ˌkævəˈlɪɚ//ˈkæ.vəˌlir/US
  1. A military man serving on horse, (chiefly) early modern cavalry officers who had abandoned the heavy armor of medieval knights.

    historical
  2. A gallant: a sprightly young dashing military man.

    historical
  3. A gentleman of the class of such officers.

    historical
  4. Alternative letter-case form of Cavalier, a royalist partisan of Charles I of England during the English Civil War, especially from the upper classes.

    alt-of · historical
  5. Someone with an uncircumcised penis.

    slang
  6. A defensive work rising from a bastion, etc., and overlooking the surrounding area.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Celtic *kaballosder.? Latin caballus Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzios Latin -āriusnom. Latin -ārius Late Latin caballāriusder. Old Occitan cavalierbor. Old Italian cavalierebor. Middle French cavalierbor. English cavalier First appears c. 1562 in a translation by Peter Whitehorne. Borrowed from Middle French cavalier (“horseman”), itself borrowed from Old Italian cavaliere (“mounted soldier, knight”), borrowed from Old Occitan cavalier, from Late Latin caballārius (“horseman”), from Latin caballus (“horse”), probably from Gaulish caballos 'nag', variant of cabillos (compare Welsh ceffyl, Breton kefel, Irish capall), akin to German (Swabish) Kōb 'nag' and Old Church Slavonic кобꙑла (kobyla) 'mare'. Previous English forms include cavalero and cavaliero. Doublet of caballero and chevalier.

verb/ˌkævəˈlɪɚ//ˈkæ.vəˌlir/US
  1. Of a man: to act in a gallant and dashing manner toward (women).

    dated · transitive
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Celtic *kaballosder.? Latin caballus Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzios Latin -āriusnom. Latin -ārius Late Latin caballāriusder. Old Occitan cavalierbor. Old Italian cavalierebor. Middle French cavalierbor. English cavalier First appears c. 1562 in a translation by Peter Whitehorne. Borrowed from Middle French cavalier (“horseman”), itself borrowed from Old Italian cavaliere (“mounted soldier, knight”), borrowed from Old Occitan cavalier, from Late Latin caballārius (“horseman”), from Latin caballus (“horse”), probably from Gaulish caballos 'nag', variant of cabillos (compare Welsh ceffyl, Breton kefel, Irish capall), akin to German (Swabish) Kōb 'nag' and Old Church Slavonic кобꙑла (kobyla) 'mare'. Previous English forms include cavalero and cavaliero. Doublet of caballero and chevalier.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.