gavotte means A French dance, in either 4/4 or 2/2 time.
Why “gavotte” is a great word
A moderate-tempo French folk dance in duple meter, distinguished by a characteristic hopping step, from French gavotte, from Provençal gavoto ("mountaineer's dance"), from Gavot ("Alp native, inhabitant of the Gap region"), a nickname meaning "glutton" or "boor," from gaver ("to force feed"), from Old Provençal gava ("crop of a bird"); first attested in the 1690s. Unlike the stately, gliding minuet of the court, or the breathless, quick-stepping bourrée, the gavotte is a rustic elevation, a measured buoyancy. It is the sound of clogs on a wooden barn floor, the bounce of a ribbon on a country bodice, and the rhythmic lift of a shepherd's clog against packed dirt—a formalized memory of the earth's simple, persistent push back against the foot, the modest exuberance of people who know that grace need not require a palace floor.
Etymology
From French, from Provençal gavoto (“dance of the mountain people”), from Old Occitan Gavot (“Alp native”, literally “glutton, boor”), from gaver (“force feed”), from Old Provençal gava (“crop”); attested since the 1690s.
noun
- A French dance, in either 4/4 or 2/2 time.
verb
- To perform this dance.e.g.“You had one eye in the mirror as / you watched yourself gavotte / And all the girls dreamed that they'd be your partner / They'd be your partner, and / You're so vain” — 1972, Carly Simon, “You're so Vain” (0:36 from the start) (audio recording), performed by Carly Simon, Rhino/Elektra, published 2017:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- bourrée 73% match — A baroque dance of French origin, common in Auvergne and Biscay in Spain in the 17th century. vs gavotte →
- allemande 72% match — A popular instrumental dance form in Baroque music, and a standard element of a suite, generally the first or second movement. vs gavotte →
- dougie 63% match — A hip-hop dance generally performed by moving one's body in a shimmy style and passing a hand through or near the hair on one's own head. vs gavotte →
- sashay 62% match — A chassé. vs gavotte →
- gigue 62% match — An Irish dance, derived from the jig, used in the Partita form (Baroque Period). vs gavotte →
- cakewalk 61% match — A contest in which cake was offered for the best dancers. vs gavotte →
- cavort 61% match — To prance, frolic, gambol. vs gavotte →
- tourdion 61% match — A lively dance, similar to a galliard vs gavotte →