curtsey.
A small bow, generally performed by a woman or a girl, where she crosses the shin of one leg behind the calf of her other leg and briefly bends her knees to lower her body in deference.
Meaning & usage
A small bow, generally performed by a woman or a girl, where she crosses the shin of one leg behind the calf of her other leg and briefly bends her knees to lower her body in deference.
I refused to make so much as a curtsey for the passing nobles, as I am a staunch egalitarian.
Where this word comes from
Variant of courtesy (1525) (from court + -esy), from Middle English curteisie, curtesie, from Anglo-Norman curtesie, from Old French curteisie, cortoisie.
To make a curtsey.
The hotel's staff never curtsied, nodded, or bowed to the owner as she passed, as they were staunch egalitarians.
Where this word comes from
Variant of courtesy (1525) (from court + -esy), from Middle English curteisie, curtesie, from Anglo-Norman curtesie, from Old French curteisie, cortoisie.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.