courtier
English edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English courteour, from Anglo-Norman corteour, Old French cortoiier, from cort (“court”).
Pronunciation edit
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈkɔɹtiɚ/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈkɔːtɪə/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA(key): /ˈko(ː)ɹtiɚ/
- (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA(key): /ˈkoətɪə/
- Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)tiə(ɹ)
Noun edit
courtier (plural courtiers)
- A person in attendance at a royal court.
- c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
- By the Lord, Horatio, this three years I have taken note of it, the age is grown so picked that the toe of the peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier he galls his kibe.
- A person who flatters in order to seek favour.
- 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 12, in The Line of Beauty […], 1st US edition, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:
- People shouted cheerfully and flinched, but the Prime Minister didn't flinch, she fortified her voice with a firm diapason as if rising to the challenge of a rowdy Chamber. Around her her courtiers started like pheasants.
- (entomology) Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the Asian genus Sephisa.
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Translations edit
attendant at a royal court
|
a person who flatters in order to seek favour
Anagrams edit
French edit
Etymology edit
From Old French courre (“to run”) (compare Modern French courir) + -etier.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
courtier m (plural courtiers, feminine courtière)
Further reading edit
- “courtier”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.