curtsey

English

woman making a curtsey

Alternative forms

• courtesy
• curtsy

Etymology

Shortened from courtesy, 16th c. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term. needs reference, expansion

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɝtsɪ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɜːtsɪ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: curt‧sey

Noun

curtsey (plural curtsies or curtseys)

1. 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.

   • c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 159, column 2:

     Wid. I take my leaue with many thouſand thankes. / Rich. The Match is made, ſhee ſeales it with a Curſie.

   • 1868–1869, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, “Amy’s Will”, in Little Women: […], (please specify |part=1 or 2), Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, →OCLC, page 284:

     [I]t was her favorite amusement to array herself in the faded brocades, and parade up and down before the long mirror, making stately courtesies, and sweeping her train about, with a rustle which delighted her ears.

   • 1928, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter II, in Lady Chatterley’s Lover, [Germany?]: Privately printed, →OCLC:

     No caps were touched, no curtseys bobbed.

Hypernyms

• (gesture): congee, congé, conge

Translations

small bow of knees and lowered body, usually by a female

• Bulgarian: ревера́нс (bg) m (reveráns)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 屈膝禮 / 屈膝礼 (zh) (qūxīlǐ)

• Czech: pukrle n, úklona f
• Danish: kniks n (small bow), nej (da) n (greater bow, rare), nejning c (obsolete)
• Dutch: nijging (nl) f
• Finnish: niiaus (fi)
• French: révérence (fr) f
• German: Knicks (de) m
• Hungarian: pukedli (hu)
• Icelandic: hneiging (is) f, hnébeyging f
• Irish: umhlú m
• Italian: riverenza (it) f, inchino (it) m
• Japanese: おじぎ (ja) (ojiki) (bow)
• Korean: 인사 (ko) (insa)
• Polish: dygnięcie n
• Portuguese: cortesia (pt) f, reverência (pt) f
• Romanian: reverență (ro) f
• Russian: ревера́нс (ru) m (reveráns), кни́ксен (ru) m (kníksɛn), приседа́ние (ru) n (prisedánije)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: кникс m

  Roman: kniks (sh) m

• Slovak: pukrlík m, úklon m
• Spanish: reverencia (es) f
• Swedish: nigning (sv), knix
• Turkish: reverans (tr)

Verb

curtsey (third-person singular simple present curtseys or curtsies, present participle curtseying, simple past and past participle curtseyed)

1. To make a curtsey.

   The hotel's staff never curtsied, nodded, or bowed to the owner as she passed, as they were staunch egalitarians.

   • 1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge. Chapter 19.”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume III, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC:

     "I’m sure you’ll excuse me, sir," said Mrs Varden, rising and curtseying.

   • 1861, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XI, in Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, part I, page 180:

     On the other hand, Mrs. Ladbrook was standing in skull-cap and front, with her turban in her hand, curtsying and smiling blandly […]

   • 1887, H[enry] Rider Haggard, chapter XVI, in Allan Quatermain‎^[1]:

     'I be as nothing in the eyes of my lord,' and she curtseyed towards him […]

   • 1890, James Russell Lowell, Address in Publications of the Modern Language Association of America

     But DANTE was a great genius, and language curtseys to its natural Kings.

   • 1903, W.E.B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk

     He curtsied low, and then bowed almost to the ground, with an imperturbable gravity that seemed almost suspicious.

   • 1908, Caroline Crawford, Folk Dances and Games

     The gentleman bows and the lady curtesys (measure eight).

Hypernyms

• congee, congé, conge

Derived terms

• curtseyer

 

Translations

to make a curtsey

• Bulgarian: правя реверанс (pravja reverans)
• Danish: neje
• Dutch: nijgen (nl)
• Finnish: niiata (fi)
• French: faire la révérence, révérencier (fr)
• German: knicksen (de)
• Hungarian: pukedlizik (hu)
• Icelandic: hneigja sig í hnjáliðunum
• Italian: fare la riverenza, fare l'inchino
• Norwegian: neie (no)
• Polish: dygać (pl)
• Portuguese: cortejar (pt)
• Serbo-Croatian: napraviti kniks
• Spanish: inclinarse (es), hacer una reverencia
• Swedish: niga (sv)
• Turkish: reverans yapmak

See also

• Not to be confused with courtsey.

Further reading

• curtsey on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• curtesy