cadre

noun

Etymology: Borrowed from French cadre, from Italian quadro (“framed painting, square”), from Latin quadrum, from quattuor (“four”).

1. A frame or framework.

   “[…] He took away the frame itself, as well as the notice. Mr. MacCulloch. I recollect Mr. Dobrée stating that his reason for taking the cadre was, that the notice was pasted, and that he could not unpaste it.”

2. The framework or skeleton upon which a new regiment is to be formed; the officers of a regiment forming the staff.

   “From the original plan, thirty-four cadre battalions, with a total of 116 companies, had actually been formed, a total of about 700 officers and another 600 key enlisted men.”

3. The core of a managing group, or a member of such a group.

   “In an article concerning Yunnan, it pointed out that the efforts of the Nuchiang Lisu Autonomous Chou’s party committee had resulted in a doubling of minorities cadres since 1965, and that many of these persons had assumed the first and second positions in leadership squads at different levels.”

   “After the war, he was a party cadre and worked as a correspondent for the daily newspaper Zeri i Popullit (The People's Voice).”

4. A small group of people specially trained for a particular purpose or profession.