Etiquette

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -É›t

Origin

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 Old French estiquette, from estechier, estichier, estequier ("") "to attach, stick", (compare Picard estiquier "to stick, pierce"), from Frankish *stikkan, stikjan ("to stick, pierce, sting"), from Proto-Germanic *stikaną, *stikōną, *staikijaną ("to be sharp, pierce, prick"), from Proto-Indo-European *st(e)ig-, *(s)teig- ("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 used étiquettes, "little cards", to remind courtiers to keep off of the grass and similar rules. More at stick (verb), stitch.

Noun

1. The forms required by good breeding, or prescribed by authority, to be observed in social or official life; observance of the proprieties of rank and occasion; conventional decorum; ceremonial code of polite society.
2. The customary behavior of members of a profession, business, law, or sports team towards each other.
• 2012, July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off trackCycling's complex etiquette contains an unwritten rule that riders in contention for a race win should not be penalised for sheer misfortune.
3. A label used to indicate that a letter is to be sent by airmail.

Related terms

• etiquettal
• jetiquette
• netiquette