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kowtow. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
kowtow, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
kowtow in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
kowtow you have here. The definition of the word
kowtow will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
kowtow, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Sinitic 叩頭/叩头 (Cantonese 叩頭/叩头 (kau3 tau4) / Mandarin 叩頭/叩头 (kòutóu)), literally "knock head".
Pronunciation
Verb
kowtow (third-person singular simple present kowtows, present participle kowtowing, simple past and past participle kowtowed)
- (intransitive, figuratively) To grovel, act in a very submissive manner.
1984 December 30, Jim Davis, Garfield (comic):I suppose you're going to be nice to Odie and kowtow to Jon and lick the mailman's boots! I don't like you already.
2015, Oleg V. Khlevniuk, Stalin: New Biography of a Dictator, Yale University Press, →ISBN, page 265:The letter to Razin contained another thought that preoccupied Stalin in the first months after the war: the need to avoid “kowtowing to the West,” including showing “unwarranted respect” for the “military authorities of Germany.”
- (intransitive, historical) To kneel and bow low enough to touch one’s forehead to the ground.
2013, Wendy Swartz, Robert Ford Campany, Yang Lu, Jessey J. C. Choo, Early Medieval China: A Sourcebook, Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 645:When the weather turned cold, the tears that he shed would become frozen like veins; the blood on his forehead from kowtowing would also freeze and would not drip.
- (intransitive) To bow very deeply.
- (Can we add an example for this sense?)
- (by extension) To bow to or show obeisance to.
Derived terms
Translations
kneel such that forehead touches ground
- Arabic: سَجَدَ (ar) (sajada), تَمَلَّقَ (tamallaqa), رَكَعَ (rakaʕa)
- Chinese:
- Cantonese: 叩頭/叩头 (kau3 tau4)
- Hokkien: 磕頭/磕头 (kha̍p-thâu), 叩頭/叩头 (zh-min-nan) (khàu-thâu)
- Mandarin: 叩頭/叩头 (zh) (kòutóu), 磕頭/磕头 (zh) (kētóu)
- Czech: klanět se až k zemi impf
- Danish: knæle, prostrere
- Dutch: knielen (nl), zich (nl) buigen (nl)
- Finnish: tehdä kowtow
- French: se prosterner (fr), s’agenouiller (fr)
- Georgian: ქედმოხრა (kedmoxra)
- German: einen Kotau machen
- Hungarian: földre borul, leborul (hu), hétrét görnyed
- Japanese: 叩頭く (ぬかつく, nukatsuku), 土下座をする (ja) (どげざをする, dogeza o suru)
- Korean: 머리를 조아리다 (meori-reul joarida), 고두(叩頭)하다 (goduhada)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: knele (no), gjøre knefall
- Portuguese: fazer o kowtow, reverenciar (pt)
- Russian: де́лать коуто́у (délatʹ koutóu)
- Serbo-Croatian: klanjati se do zemlje, prostrirati, metanisati (sh)
- Spanish: postrarse (es), prosternarse (es)
- Vietnamese: lạy (vi), khấu đầu (vi) (叩頭), quỳ lạy, khúm núm (vi), quỵ luỵ (vi)
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act submissively
- Albanian: please add this translation if you can
- Armenian: please add this translation if you can
- Burmese: please add this translation if you can
- Czech: poklonkovat
- Danish: underkaste sig, give efter (da), føje, krybe til korset
- Dutch: zich (nl) aanpassen (nl), onderdanig (nl) zijn (nl)
- Esperanto: kliniĝi
- Estonian: please add this translation if you can
- Faroese: please add this translation if you can
- Finnish: nöyristellä (fi), kumarrella (fi)
- Georgian: ქედმოხრა (kedmoxra)
- German: kriechen (de), kuschen (de), katzbuckeln (de), dienern (de), zu Kreuze kriechen (de), den Kotau (de) machen
- Greek: please add this translation if you can
- Hebrew: התרפס (he) (hitrapés), התחנף (he) (hitkhanéf), השתעבד (hishtaabéd)
- Hungarian: hajbókol (hu), megalázkodik (hu), csúszik-mászik (hu), alázatoskodik (hu)
- Khmer: please add this translation if you can
- Korean: please add this translation if you can
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: underkaste seg, gi etter (no), føye seg, krype til korset (no)
- Polish: kłaniać się (pl)
- Romanian: please add this translation if you can
- Russian: преклоня́ться (ru) (preklonjátʹsja), пресмыка́ться (ru) (presmykátʹsja), раболе́пствовать (ru) (rabolépstvovatʹ)
- Serbo-Croatian: klanjati se do zemlje, metanisati (sh)
- Spanish: please add this translation if you can
- Thai: please add this translation if you can
- Vietnamese: khúm núm (vi), quỳ lạy, quỵ luỵ (vi)
- Volapük: please add this translation if you can
- Welsh: please add this translation if you can
- West Coast Bajau: please add this translation if you can
- Wolof: please add this translation if you can
- Yámana: please add this translation if you can
- Yiddish: please add this translation if you can
- Yucatec Maya: please add this translation if you can
- Yup'ik: please add this translation if you can
- Zazaki: please add this translation if you can
- Zhuang: please add this translation if you can
- Zulu: please add this translation if you can
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Noun
kowtow (plural kowtows)
- The act of kowtowing.
1990, Hugh D. R. Baker, Hong Kong Images: People and Animals, Hong Kong University Press, →ISBN, page 93:Three elders dressed in their long silk ceremonial gowns perform the kowtow before the altar in their clan ancestral hall.
Translations
kowtowing
- Arabic: please add this translation if you can
- Chinese:
- Cantonese: 叩頭/叩头 (kau3 tau4)
- Mandarin: 叩頭/叩头 (zh) (kòutóu), 磕頭/磕头 (zh) (kētóu)
- Danish: kowtow, koutou
- Dutch: buiging (nl) f, kotau m
- Finnish: kowtow-kumarrus
- French: kowtow (fr) m
- German: Kotau (de) m
- Japanese: 叩頭 (ja) (こうとう, kōtō), (Japanese way) 土下座 (ja) (どげざ, dogeza)
- Korean: 고두(叩頭) (ko) (godu)
- Norwegian: kowtow
- Portuguese: kowtow m
- Russian: (indeclinable) коуто́у n (koutóu), покло́н (ru) m (poklón)
- Swedish: koutou
- Ukrainian: чолобитна f (čolobytna), чолобиття n (čolobyttja), уклін m (uklin), коутоу n (koutou)
- Vietnamese: khấu đầu (vi) (叩頭), sự quỳ lạy, sự khúm núm (vi)
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See also
Portuguese
Noun
kowtow m (plural kowtows)
- kowtow (bow low enough to touch one’s forehead to the ground)