Pas
/pɑː/noun
A step or movement in ballet or other dance, especially as part of a named dance sequence.
Did you know?In French, pas originally meant “step,” but in the expression ne…pas—literally “not…a step”—it gradually became the ordinary word for “not.”
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*pent-
“To tread, go, or find a way; the reconstructed ancestral root associated with Latin forms for movement and passage.”
Classical Latin
Latin
passus
“A step or pace, literally a measured extension of the legs.”
Old French
Old French
pas
“A step, pace, or movement; also used in expressions involving walking or distance.”
12th–14th Century
French
ne…pas
“An emphatic negative expression, literally “not a step,” in which pas gradually developed into the standard negator.”
18th Century
English
pas
“A borrowed term for a step or movement in dance, especially ballet.”
Modern English
English
pas
“A formal dance step or movement, commonly encountered in phrases such as pas de deux.”