cad

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a man who behaves dishonorably, especially toward women

   He proved to be a cad, jilting her without a word.

A clipping of cadet (originally meaning an assistant or odd-job man), from French cadet ('younger son'), from Gascon capdet, from Late Latin capitellum ('little head, chief'). The pejorative sense arose in 19th-century university slang.

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