Passée

Passée is the feminine form of the French adjective and past participle passé, meaning "past" or "having occurred." In French, passé is used to denote something that has already happened or is no longer current, and its form agrees with the noun it modifies. The masculine form is passé and the feminine form is passée. The term appears in phrases such as la période passée or une mode passée, and also in grammatical labels like passé composé and passé simple, which name past tenses.

In ballet, passé is a widely used term describing a specific working-leg position. The dancer brings the working foot up along the ankle and places the toe near the knee of the supporting leg, with the knee turned out and the weight balanced on the standing leg. The leg may pass either in front of or behind the knee depending on the movement, and the position is often used as a transition between other steps. Variants include retiré passé and grand passé.

In broader French usage, passé and passée agree with the gender of the noun: masculine passé for masculine nouns, feminine passée for feminine nouns. The term commonly appears in everyday expressions such as semaine passée (last week) or mode passée (outdated fashion), reflecting the general sense of "past" or "no longer current."

The word is not tied to one single field but spans language, dance, and fashion. Its core sense remains the idea of something that has already occurred or moved past.