Standard Lemma guide

ballerina

noun · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˌbæləɹˈiːnə/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -iːnə
  • CMU ARPABET: B AE2 L ER0 IY1 N AH0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A ballet dancer (unisex term)

A female ballet dancer.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: nonstandard, often

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A ballet dancer (unisex term)

A female ballet dancer.

Ellipsis of prima ballerina (“the star female ballet performer in the company”).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, nonstandard, often

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: prima ballerina, prima donna, prima

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A ballet dancer (unisex term)

A male ballet dancer; Synonym of ballerino.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: nonstandard, uncommon

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

A ballet flat shoe.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

a female ballet dancer

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: danseuse

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: ballet dancer

Narrower terms: prima ballerina

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian ballerina.

Across languages

Translations

60 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: balerinë — female ballet dancer
  • Arabic: بَالِيرِينَا (bālīrīnā) — female ballet dancer
  • Arabic: رَاقِصَة بَالِيه (rāqiṣat bālēh) — female ballet dancer
  • Azerbaijani: balerina — female ballet dancer
  • Belarusian: балеры́на (baljerýna) — female ballet dancer
  • Bulgarian: балери́на (balerína) — female ballet dancer
  • Catalan: ballarina — female ballet dancer
  • Chinese Mandarin: 芭蕾舞演員 /芭蕾舞演员 (bālěiwǔ yǎnyuán) — female ballet dancer
  • Chinese Mandarin: 芭蕾舞女演員 /芭蕾舞女演员 (bālěiwǔ nǚ yǎnyuán) — female ballet dancer
  • Crimean Tatar: balerina — female ballet dancer
  • Czech: balerína — female ballet dancer
  • Czech: baletka — female ballet dancer
  • Danish: ballerina — female ballet dancer
  • Dutch: ballerina — female ballet dancer
  • Finnish: balettitanssijatar — female ballet dancer
  • Finnish: ballerina — female ballet dancer
  • French: ballerine — female ballet dancer
  • German: Ballerina — female ballet dancer
  • German: Ballettänzerin — female ballet dancer
  • Greek: μπαλαρίνα (balarína) — female ballet dancer
  • Hungarian: balerina — female ballet dancer
  • Icelandic: ballettdansmær — female ballet dancer
  • Indonesian: balerina — female ballet dancer
  • Irish: cailín bailé — female ballet dancer
  • Italian: ballerina — female ballet dancer
  • Japanese: バレリーナ (barerīna) — female ballet dancer
  • Korean: 발레리나 (ballerina) — female ballet dancer
  • Māori: kaiori hiteki — female ballet dancer
  • Norwegian Bokmål: ballerina — female ballet dancer
  • Norwegian Bokmål: ballettdanserinne — female ballet dancer
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: ballerina — female ballet dancer
  • Persian: بالِرین (bâlerin) — female ballet dancer
  • Polish: balerina — female ballet dancer
  • Polish: baletnica — female ballet dancer
  • Portuguese: bailarina — female ballet dancer
  • Romanian: balerină — female ballet dancer
  • Romanian: baletistă — female ballet dancer
  • Russian: балери́на (balerína) — female ballet dancer
  • Serbo-Croatian: балери́на — female ballet dancer
  • Serbo-Croatian: balerína — female ballet dancer
  • Slovak: balerína — female ballet dancer
  • Spanish: bailarina — female ballet dancer
  • Swedish: ballerina — female ballet dancer
  • Swedish: balettdansös — female ballet dancer
  • Thai: นักบัลเลต์ (nák-bal-lee) — female ballet dancer
  • Turkish: balerin — female ballet dancer
  • Ukrainian: балери́на (balerýna) — female ballet dancer
  • Uzbek: balerina — female ballet dancer
  • Bulgarian: примабалерина (primabalerina) — the star female ballet dancer
  • Danish: primaballerina — the star female ballet dancer
  • Norwegian Bokmål: ballerina — the star female ballet dancer
  • Norwegian Bokmål: primaballerina — the star female ballet dancer
  • Polish: primabalerina — the star female ballet dancer
  • Swedish: prima ballerina — the star female ballet dancer
  • Bulgarian: балетист (baletist) — male ballet dancer
  • Danish: balletdanser — male ballet dancer
  • Danish: solodanser — male ballet dancer
  • Norwegian Bokmål: ballerinadanser — male ballet dancer
  • Polish: baletnik — male ballet dancer
  • Swedish: balettdansör — male ballet dancer
Real reading context

ballerina in complete knowledge articles