ballerina

See also: Ballerina

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian ballerina.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌbæləɹˈiːnə/
• Rhymes: -iːnə

Noun

ballerina (plural ballerinas or ballerine)

1. A female ballet dancer.
2. The star female ballet performer in the company.
3. (less common, nonstandard) A male ballet dancer; a ballerino
4. A ballet flat shoe.

Usage notes

Although normally used to refer only to females, it can be used of males although this is sometimes done so derogatorily. danseur or ballet dancer is the normal term for men.

Translations

female ballet dancer

• Albanian: balerinë (sq) f
• Arabic: بَالِيرِينَا‎ f (bālīrīnā), رَاقِصَة بَالِيه‎ f (rāqiṣat bālīh)
• Belarusian: балеры́на f (baljerýna)
• Bulgarian: балери́на f (balerína)
• Catalan: ballarina f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: (gender neutral) 芭蕾舞演員 (zh), 芭蕾舞演员 (zh) (bālěiwǔ yǎnyuán), (female) 芭蕾舞女演員, 芭蕾舞女演员 (bālěiwǔ nǚ yǎnyuán)

• Crimean Tatar: balerina
• Czech: balerína f, baletka (cs) f
• Danish: ballerina (da) c
• Finnish: balettitanssijatar, ballerina (fi)
• French: ballerine (fr) f
• German: Ballerina (de) f, Ballettänzerin (de) f
• Greek: μπαλαρίνα (el) f (balarína)
• Hungarian: balerina (hu)
• Icelandic: ballettdansmær (is) f
• Indonesian: balerina (id)
• Irish: cailín bailé m
• Italian: ballerina (it) f

• Japanese: バレリーナ (barerīna)
• Korean: 발레리나 (ko) (ballerina)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ballerina m, ballettdanserinne m or f (female, archaic)

  Nynorsk: ballerina f

• Polish: balerina (pl) f, baletnica (pl) f
• Portuguese: bailarina (pt) f
• Romanian: balerină (ro) f, baletistă (ro) f
• Russian: балери́на (ru) f (balerína)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: балери́на f

  Roman: balerína (sh) f

• Slovak: balerína f
• Spanish: bailarina f
• Swedish: ballerina (sv) c, balettdansös (sv) c
• Thai: นักบัลเลต์ (nák-bal-lee)
• Ukrainian: балери́на (uk) f (balerýna)

the star female ballet dancer

• Danish: primaballerina c

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ballerina m, primaballerina m

male ballet dancer

• Danish: balletdanser c (generic), solodanser c

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ballerinadanser m

a ballet flat shoe — see ballet flat

Further reading

• “ballerina”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “ballerina”, in Merriam–Webster Online Dictionary.
• “ballerina”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
• “ballerina” in the Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

---

Finnish

Etymology

From Italian ballerina.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɑlːeri(ː)nɑ/, [ˈbɑlːe̞ˌri(ː)nɑ]
• Rhymes: -inɑ
• Syllabification: bal‧le‧ri‧na

Noun

ballerina

1. (dance) ballerina (female ballet dancer)

   Synonym: balettitanssijatar

2. ballet flat, dolly flat (type of women's shoes, with a very low heel, low sides and covering only the toes)

   Synonyms: ballerinakenkä, ballerinatossu

Declension

Inflection of ballerina (Kotus type 9/kala, no gradation)
nominative		ballerina	ballerinat
genitive		ballerinan	ballerinojen
partitive		ballerinaa	ballerinoja
illative		ballerinaan	ballerinoihin
		singular	plural
nominative		ballerina	ballerinat
accusative	nom.	ballerina	ballerinat
	gen.	ballerinan
genitive		ballerinan	ballerinojen ballerinainrare
partitive		ballerinaa	ballerinoja
inessive		ballerinassa	ballerinoissa
elative		ballerinasta	ballerinoista
illative		ballerinaan	ballerinoihin
adessive		ballerinalla	ballerinoilla
ablative		ballerinalta	ballerinoilta
allative		ballerinalle	ballerinoille
essive		ballerinana	ballerinoina
translative		ballerinaksi	ballerinoiksi
instructive		—	ballerinoin
abessive		ballerinatta	ballerinoitta
comitative		—	ballerinoineen

Possessive forms of ballerina (type kala)
possessor	singular	plural
1st person	ballerinani	ballerinamme
2nd person	ballerinasi	ballerinanne
3rd person	ballerinansa

Derived terms

• ballerinakenkä
• ballerinatossu

 

---

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bal.leˈri.na/
• Rhymes: -ina
• Hyphenation: bal‧le‧rì‧na

Adjective

ballerina

1. feminine singular of ballerino

Noun

ballerina f (plural ballerine)

1. female equivalent of ballerino (“dancer”)
2. pump (shoe)
3. wagtail

   Synonyms: batticoda, cutrettola

Derived terms

• ballerina bianca
• ballerina di fila
• ballerina gialla
• prima ballerina

 

---

Norwegian Bokmål

Ballerina

Etymology

From Italian ballerina.

Noun

ballerina m (definite singular ballerinaen, indefinite plural ballerinaer, definite plural ballerinaene)

1. (dance) a ballerina

References

• “ballerina” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “ballerina” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

---

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Italian ballerina.

Noun

ballerina f (definite singular ballerinaa, indefinite plural ballerinaer, definite plural ballerinaene)

1. (dance) a ballerina

References

• “ballerina” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

---

Swedish

Etymology

From Italian ballerina.

Noun

ballerina c

1. (dance) ballerina

Declension

Declension of ballerina
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	ballerina	ballerinan	ballerinor	ballerinorna
Genitive	ballerinas	ballerinans	ballerinors	ballerinornas