courteous

English

Etymology

From Middle English curteis, from Old French curteis (French courtois), from cort (“court”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɝti.əs/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɜːti.əs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

courteous (comparative more courteous, superlative most courteous)

1. Showing regard or thought for others; especially, displaying good manners or etiquette.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:polite

   Antonyms: discourteous, uncourteous; see also Thesaurus:impolite

   a courteous gentleman   a courteous gesture

   • 1818, John Keats, “Book III”, in Endymion: A Poetic Romance, London: […] [T. Miller] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 149, lines 932–935:

     Nectar ran / In courteous fountains to all cups outreach'd; / And plunder'd vines, teeming exhaustless, pleach'd / New growth about each shell and pendent lyre; [...]

Derived terms

• courteously
• courteousness
• discourteous
• uncourteous

 

Related terms

• courtesy

Translations

showing regard for others

• Arabic: مُهَذَّب (muhaḏḏab), مُؤَدَّب (muʔaddab)
• Belarusian: ве́тлівы (vjétlivy)
• Bulgarian: учти́в (bg) (učtív), внима́телен (bg) (vnimátelen), ве́жлив (bg) (véžliv)
• Catalan: cortès (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 有禮貌／有礼貌 (jau⁵ lai⁵ maau⁶), 斯文 (si¹ man⁴)

  Mandarin: 有禮貌／有礼貌 (zh) (yǒulǐmào), 客氣／客气 (zh) (kèqi)

• Czech: zdvořilý (cs), slušný (cs)
• Danish: høflig (da), beleven (da)
• Dutch: hoffelijk (nl)
• Esperanto: ĝentila (eo)
• Faroese: ærutur
• Finnish: kohtelias (fi)
• French: courtois (fr), poli (fr)
• German: höflich (de), zuvorkommend (de), aufmerksam (de)
• Hebrew: אדיב (he) (adiv)
• Ido: jentila (io)
• Irish: lách, sibhialta
• Italian: cortese (it)
• Japanese: 丁寧 (ja) (ていねい, teinei), 礼儀正しい (ja) (reigitadashii), 思いやりのある (omoiyarinoaru)
• Latin: cōmis (la)
• Macedonian: у́чтив (účtiv), љу́безен (ljúbezen), внима́телен (vnimátelen), куртоа́зен (kurtoázen)
• Maori: hūmārika
• Middle English: curteis, semly
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: høflig

  Nynorsk: høfleg

• Persian: مؤدب (fa) (mo'addab)
• Plautdietsch: heeflich
• Polish: uprzejmy (pl), grzeczny (pl)
• Portuguese: cortês (pt)
• Russian: любе́зный (ru) (ljubéznyj), ве́жливый (ru) (véžlivyj), обходи́тельный (ru) (obxodítelʹnyj), учти́вый (ru) (učtívyj), внима́тельный (ru) (vnimátelʹnyj), куртуа́зный (ru) (kurtuáznyj) (archaic)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: учтив

  Roman: učtiv (sh)

• Slovak: zdvorilý, slušný
• Slovene: vljuden (sl)
• Spanish: cordial (es), cortés (es)
• Swedish: artig (sv), hövlig (sv)
• Turkish: kibar (tr), nazik (tr), efendi (tr)
• Ukrainian: вві́чливий (uk) (vvíčlyvyj)

Anagrams

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