kowtow.
To kneel and bow low enough to touch one’s forehead to the ground.
Meaning & usage
To kneel and bow low enough to touch one’s forehead to the ground.
To grovel, act in a very submissive manner; to show obeisance to (someone or something) in such a manner; to bow.
To bow very deeply.
Where this word comes from
From either Cantonese 叩頭 /叩头 (kau³ tau⁴) or Mandarin 叩頭 /叩头 (kòutóu). Literally, “knock head”.
The act of kowtowing.
Where this word comes from
From either Cantonese 叩頭 /叩头 (kau³ tau⁴) or Mandarin 叩頭 /叩头 (kòutóu). Literally, “knock head”.
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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.