Pied

Pied is the French word for foot. It is a simple building-block term that appears inside many longer ballet words, so knowing it helps you decode the vocabulary you meet in class. Because ballet uses French for almost everything, recognizing pied makes other terms easier to understand.

You will find pied inside phrases like cou-de-pied, which means neck of the foot and refers to the area just above the ankle where the working foot often rests. When a teacher places the foot sur le cou-de-pied, they are using this idea. Learning small words like pied gives you a head start on understanding the many step names that describe what the feet are doing.