EXAMPLES FROM THE WEB FOR CADET
Dare you to wear your brother's coat without the crescent which should stamp you as his cadet.
Grushnitski is a cadet; he has only been a year in the service.
The Marquess of Carabas started in life as the cadet of a noble family.
That is the one thing they all care for—like that cadet last autumn.
The life of the cadet differed little from that of the schoolboy.
"Here is your letter, cadet," said Frank, banding it back to him.
"I did not notice that," said the cadet, with an almost sneering tone.
The Count was as jaded and tired of life as the cadet was eager to enjoy it.
But almost instantly Dan Soppinger overtook the other cadet.
As a cadet at Putnam Hall, he had never had any use for a tale bearer.
WORD ORIGIN
c.1610, "younger son or brother," from French cadet "military student officer," noun use of adjective, "younger" (15c.), from Gascon capdet "captain, chief, youth of a noble family," from Late Latin capitellum, literally "little chief," hence, "inferior head of a family," diminutive of Latin caput "head" (see capitulum). "The eldest son being regarded as the first head of the family, the second son the cadet, or little head" [Kitchin].
Apparently younger sons from Gascon noble families were sent to French court to serve as officers, which gave the word its military meaning. In English, the meaning "gentleman entering the military as a profession" is from 1650s, and that of "student at a military college" is from 1775.