protégée

Borrowed from French protégée.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɒteʒeɪ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹoʊtəʒeɪ/
• or as in French
• Hyphenation: pro‧té‧gée

protégée (plural protégées)

1. A female protégé.
   • 1814 July, [Jane Austen], chapter IV, in Mansfield Park: A Novel. In Three Volumes, volume I, London: Printed for T[homas] Egerton, […], OCLC 39810224, page 81:

     The Admiral delighted in the boy, Mrs. Crawford doted on the girl; and it was the lady's death which now obliged her protegée, after some months' further trial at her uncle's house, to find another home.

   • 2009 January 31, “Rachida Dati: why was she fired?”, in The Week, issue 700, page 21:

     Though formerly a protégée and friend of [Nicolas] Sarkozy, [Rachida] Dati has fallen from grace in the past year, said John Lichfield in The Independent.

• IPA^(key): /pʁɔ.te.ʒe/

protégée f

1. feminine singular of the past participle of protéger