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Today's Word "cadre"

Core of trained personnel around which organization is formed on

Published in Vocabulary

cadre \KAD-ree; -ray; KAH-dray; -druh\ (noun) - 1 : A core or nucleus of trained or otherwise qualified personnel around which an organization is formed. 2 : A tightly knit and trained group of dedicated members active in promoting the interests of a revolutionary party. 3 : A member of such a group. 4 : A framework upon which a larger entity can be built; a scheme.

"Naturally they were curious, the businessmen and cadre and assorted visitors, who offered up cigarettes and tea before making their first hedgy attempts at conversation. The cadre wanted to know if they were American, but he, along with the businessmen, insisted on broaching his questions in fragmented, nearly impenetrable English." -- 'John Dalton, 'Heaven Lake: A Novel'

 

Upon entering the English language around 1830 via Sir Walter Scott's Introduction to The Lay of the Last Minstrel, this word first meant "framework," and by the 1850s was a term for a group of people. It was borrowed from the French cadre, "a picture frame," from Italian quadro, "framework," from Latin quadrum, "square, four-sided thing."


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