etiquette
Meanings
Plural: etiquettes
Noun
- rules governing socially acceptable behavior
- The manners or decent behaviour to be observed in social or professional life; conventional decorum; the ceremonial code of polite society.
- The customary behavior of members of a profession, business, law, or sports team towards each other.
- A label used to indicate that a letter is to be sent by airmail.
Origin / Etymology
1740, from French étiquette (“property, a little piece of paper, or a mark or title, affixed to a bag or bundle, expressing its contents, a label, ticket”), from Middle French estiquette (“ticket, memorandum”), from the Old French verb estechier, estichier, estequier (“to attach, stick”), (compare Picard estiquier (“to stick, pierce”)), from Frankish *stekan, *stikkjan (“to stick, pierce, sting”), from Proto-Germanic *stikaną, *stikōną, *staikijaną (“to be sharp, pierce, prick”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teyg- (“to be sharp, to stab”).
Akin to Old High German stehhan (“to stick, attach, nail”) (German stechen (“to stick”)), Old English stician (“to pierce, stab, be fastened”).
The French Court of Louis XIV at Versailles used étiquettes (literally “little cards”) to remind courtiers to keep off of the grass and similar rules. More at stick (verb) and stitch. Doublet of ticket.
Scrabble Score: 18
etiquette is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL wordetiquette is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
etiquette is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary