A protégé is someone, often younger, who is taught, guided, and pushed forward by a person with more power, skill, or experience. The older person is not only a classroom teacher: they open doors, make introductions, and take some responsibility for that person’s future. Artists, cooks, politicians, and professors all speak of their protégés. Though actually, people stretch it — a manager may call a favourite junior a protégé even when the help is quite light. In French it began as “the protected one,” the past participle of protéger, to protect. English often writes protege without the accent; some writers still use protégée for a woman, but many people now use protégé for everyone. It is not the same as a prodigy, which means a brilliantly gifted young person.