corvette

• corvet (rare)

Borrowed from French corvette.

• Rhymes: -ɛt

corvette (plural corvettes)

1. (nautical, historical) A flush-decked warship of the 17th-18th centuries having a single tier of guns; it ranked next below a frigate; -- called in the United States navy a sloop of war.
2. (nautical) In a modern navy, a lightly armed and armoured blue water warship, smaller than a frigate, capable of transoceanic duty.

• Corvette
• corvette captain

From Middle Dutch korf, korver (“a kind of ship”), or Middle Low German korf (“a kind of ship and basket”), +‎ -ette. Possibly ultimately connected to Latin corbita (navis), "slow-sailing ship of burden, grain ship," which is from corbis.

• IPA^(key): /kɔʁ.vɛt/

corvette f (plural corvettes)

1. corvette

• “corvette” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

corvette f

1. plural of corvetta