higher education system, especially since the majority of successful candidates originate from privileged upper-class and middle-class families. Defenders see it as demonstrating an emphasis on quality. Terminology Etymology The word (f.) is a pseudo-Graecism, derived from the French adjective , meaning 'knock-kneed'. During the 19th and early 20th century, the adjective was often used mockingly to describe people in the academic strata, especially those pursuing classical studies. More specifically, the was used as a taunt by students of the military academy, whose curriculum included physical education such as equestrianism and fencing, against students in the humanities, who were perceived as crouching over their books, thus developing physical deformities. In the early 20th century, the term was adapted by humanities students themselves as a mocking self-description but they changed the spelling () to make it look like a Greek loanword. The play with Greek is even more conspicuous with hypokhâgne, the name of the first year. This word was jocularly derived from khâgne using the Greek prefix , 'under'. Slang terms and folklore Students commonly abbreviate the name of their year using acronyms, hence hypokhâgne is HK , khâgne is just K . In student slang, a former hypokhâgneux attending the khâgne for the first time is called carré (or khârrés). A khâgneux who fails the end-of-year entrance examination to ENS may repeat the khâgne year to try their luck a second time; in which case he or she is called cube (or khûbe). The origin of these terms corresponds to the number of years spent by the student in the system: two years (HK+K) correspond to carré (cf. Fr. m² = mètres carrés = square meter), three (HK+K+K) to cube (cf. m³ = mètres cubes = cubic meter). A khâgneux who repeats the khâgne twice is called bicarré (or bikhârré), commonly abbreviated as bica. So in a classroom of khâgne, half of the students may be carrés, a third may be cubes, plus a handful of bicas who are trying their last chance at the final examination. Using derived verbs, one can say Je vais cuber. (meaning "I plan to give khâgne a second try"); or Je vais quand même pas bicater! ("I'm not going to try a third year in khâgne!"). See also Classe Préparatoire aux Grandes Écoles The khâgne is informally discussed in the memoirs of Raymond Aron (1905–1983), who transferred at 17 from a suburban school to