cotillion的意思

cotillion

英 [kə'tɪljən] 美 [ko'tɪljən]

cotillion (n.): type of dance, 1766, from French cotillion (15c.), originally "petticoat," a double diminutive of Old French cote "skirt" (see coat (n.)); its application to a kind of dance arose in France and is considered obscure by some linguists, but there are lively turns in the dance that flash the petticoats.

Meaning "formal ball" is 1898, American English, short for cotillion ball. French uses -on (from Latin -onem) to reinforce Latin nouns felt to need more emphatic power (as in poisson from Latin piscis). It also uses -on to form diminutives, often strengthened by the insertion of -ill-, as in the case of this word.

1. Would you be all right if you were me and you had to have a cotillion?: 如果你是我,被迫去学沙龙舞你会觉得很好么 ?