etiquette

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 *stikkan, *stikjan (“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, "little cards", to remind courtiers to keep off of the grass and similar rules. More at stick (verb), stitch. Doublet of ticket.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛtɪˌkɛt/, /ˈɛtɪkɪt/

A Thai airmail etiquette

etiquette (countable and uncountable, plural etiquettes)

1. The forms required by a good upbringing, 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.
   • 20 May 2018, Hadley Freeman in The Guardian, Is Meghan Markle the American the royals have needed all along?

     Much shock was expressed in the British press about the Palace’s utter failure to control the Markles and the Markles’ lack of etiquette.

   • 2003, Yoko Ogawa, The Housekeeper and the Professor:

     Whenever Root would put his elbows on the table or clatter his dishes or commit any other breach of etiquette, the Professor would gently correct him.

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 track

     Cycling'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.

• 1885, Gilbert & Sullivan, The Mikado

  If you think we are worked by strings, / Like a Japanese marionette, / You don't understand these things / It is simply Court etiquette.

• 2001, Eric R. Wolf, Sydel Silverman, Aram A. Yengoyan, Pathways of Power: Building an Anthropology of the Modern World, page 182

  These then influence other groups, who recut and reshape their patterns of interpersonal etiquettes to fit those utilized by the tone-setting group.

• chatiquette
• etiquettal
• jetiquette
• netiquette

Borrowed from French étiquette (“property, label, ticket”).

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• Hyphenation: eti‧quet‧te

etiquette f or m (uncountable)

1. etiquette

• decorum

• deportment