Other forms: debuts
A debut is an artist's or player's very first public appearance. Make her debut, a debut album, a debut novel.
Debut album, debut novel and debut season are the standard compounds, and debut is used as a verb in the same fields: the show debuted in March. It is pronounced DAY-byoo. In older society usage, a debutante was a young woman formally presented at court, and the season was built around it. Note that a debut is by definition unrepeatable, which is why the word carries so much weight in reviews.
1noundebutA first public appearance.
“The young actor made her debut at the National Theatre last spring.”
debut is a first appearance.
French début comes from débuter, to make the first stroke in a game, from but, a target or goal. A debut is the opening shot, which is a sporting image rather than a theatrical one.
Old French
but — aim, goal, end, target
French
début
English, today
debut
Built from
French début, from Middle French -, derivative of débuter (“to move, begin”), from dé- + but (“mark, goal”), from Old French but (“aim, goal, end, target”), from Old French butte (“mound, knoll, target”), from Frankish but (“stump, log”), or from Old Norse bútr (“log, stump, butt”); both from Proto-Germanic butą (“end, piece”), from Proto-Indo-European bʰewd- (“to beat, push”). Cognate with Old English butt (“tree stump”). More at butt. The Philippine sense is influenced by Spanish debut.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA