Debutante vs. Cotillion: What's the Difference?

Table of Contents

Main Difference

The main difference between Debutante and Cotillion is that the Debutante is a upper class girl introduced to society and Cotillion is a type of social dance.

  • Debutante

    A debutante or deb (from French: débutante, “female beginner”) is a young woman of aristocratic or upper-class family background who has reached maturity and, as a new adult, comes out into society at a formal “debut” or possibly debutante ball. Originally, the term meant the woman was old enough to be married, and part of the purpose of her coming out was to display her to eligible bachelors and their families with a view to marriage within a select circle.

  • Cotillion

    The cotillion (also cotillon or French country dance) is a social dance, popular in 18th-century Europe and America. Originally for four couples in square formation, it was a courtly version of an English country dance, the forerunner of the quadrille and, in the United States, the square dance.

    It was for some fifty years regarded as an ideal finale to a ball but was eclipsed in the early 19th century by the quadrille. It became so elaborate that it was sometimes presented as a concert dance performed by trained and rehearsed dancers. The later “German” cotillion included more couples as well as plays and games.

Wikipedia
  • Debutante (noun)

    A young woman who makes her first formal appearance in society.

    “deb|q=informal”

  • Debutante (noun)

    A female debutant, especially in sport and entertainment.

  • Cotillion (noun)

    A bold dance performed in groups of eight where ladies lift their skirts to display their ankles. from 1766

  • Cotillion (noun)

    The music regulating the cotillion.

  • Cotillion (noun)

    ; a coming-of-age party meant to present girls newly transitioned into womanhood to the community for courtship. from 1898

  • Cotillion (noun)

    A kind of woollen material for women’s skirts.

Wiktionary

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