Cinderella
proper noun
- folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˌsɪndəˈɹɛlə/
name
Etymology: From cinder + Italian -ella, as in little cinder girl. Compare French Cendrillon.
- A popular fairy tale embodying a classic folk tale myth-element of unjust oppression and triumphant reward.
- The main character in this story, a mistreated and impoverished girl.
“The girls look like Southern belles or Cinderellas. The prom’s theme is Cinderellian: “Until Midnight.” Little, clear slippers sit on the 30 cloth- and candle-covered tables on the tarp-covered gymnasium floor.”
“Womanly duties, as Joan thought of them, were fine for girls who imagined themselves as Cinderellas or Sleeping Beauties, good girls rewarded for menial housework and, in the case of Sleeping Beauty, a passivity so profound it was deaf, dumb, blind, and comatose.”
- A female given name originating as a coinage.
noun
Etymology: From cinder + -ella.
- Alternative letter-case form of Cinderella.