There are a number of regular knife cuts that are basic to chef skills. Each produces a standardized piece of food, allowing a chef to translate words into cuisine.

The two basic shapes for these cuts are the strip and the cube. Strips are generally cut to 2½-3 inches, and are defined by width, from thickest to thinnest as "batonnet", "allumette

Allumette

An allumette is a matchstick-sized cut, 6 mm x 6 mm x 5 to 6 cm long, used for potatoes. Also used to refer to certain types of puff pastry....

", "julienne

Julienning

Julienne is a culinary knife cut in which the food item is cut into long thin strips, not unlike matchsticks. Sometimes called 'shoe string', e.g. 'shoestring fries'...

", and "fine julienne". The cube shapes, in order from largest to smallest, are the large, medium, and small dice

Dicing

Dicing is a culinary knife cut in which the food item is cut into small blocks or dice. This may be done for aesthetic reasons or to create uniformly sized pieces to ensure even cooking...

, the brunoise

Brunoise

Brunoise is a culinary knife cut in which the food item is first julienned and then turned a quarter turn and diced again, producing cubes of a side length of about 3 mm or less on each side or 1/6 inch cubes. In France, a "brunoise" cut is smaller, 1 to 2 mm on each side. Common items to be...

, and the fine brunoise.

Batonnet

Translated literally from French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

, batonnet means "little stick".
The batonnet measures approximately 12mm × 12mm × 70mm ( ½ inch × ½ inch × 2 inches). It is also the starting point for the medium dice.

Allumette

Allumette

An allumette is a matchstick-sized cut, 6 mm x 6 mm x 5 to 6 cm long, used for potatoes. Also used to refer to certain types of puff pastry....

 

Sometimes also called the "matchstick cut" (which is the translation of "allumette" from French) the allumette measures approximately 6mm × 6 mm × 70mm (¼ inch × ¼ inch × 2  inches).
It's also the starting point for the small dice.

Julienne

Julienning

Julienne is a culinary knife cut in which the food item is cut into long thin strips, not unlike matchsticks. Sometimes called 'shoe string', e.g. 'shoestring fries'...

 

An urban legend has this cut named for Julia Child

Julia Child

Julia Child was an American chef, author, and television personality. She is recognized for introducing French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and her subsequent television programs, the most notable of which was The French Chef, which...

, but the first reference to it occurs in François Massialot's Le Cuisinier Royal in 1722.
The julienne measures approximately 3mm × 3mm × 70mm (1/8 inch × 1/8 inch × 2 inches).
It's also the starting point for the brunoise cut.

Fine Julienne

Measures approximately 1,5mm × 1,5mm × 70mm (1/16 inch × 1/16 inch × 2 inches).
It's also the starting point for the fine brunoise cut.

Medium Dice (Parmentier)

Cubes with sides measuring approximately 12mm (½ inch), created by cutting the batonnet cut into cubes.

Small Dice (Macédoine)

Cubes with sides measuring approximately 6mm (¼ inch), created by cutting the allumette cut into cubes.

Brunoise

Brunoise

Brunoise is a culinary knife cut in which the food item is first julienned and then turned a quarter turn and diced again, producing cubes of a side length of about 3 mm or less on each side or 1/6 inch cubes. In France, a "brunoise" cut is smaller, 1 to 2 mm on each side. Common items to be...

Tiny cubes, with sides measuring approximately 3mm (1/8 inch), created by cutting the julienne into cubes.

Fine Brunoise

Even tinier cubes, with sides measuring approximately 1.5mm (1/16 inch), created by cutting the fine julienne into cubes.