Courteous

Definition: Courteous

Courteous

Adjective

1. Exhibiting courtesy and politeness; "a nice gesture".

2. Characterized by courtesy and gracious good manners; "if a man be gracious and courteous to strangers it shows he is a citizen of the world"-Francis Bacon.

Date "courteous" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1050. (references)

Synonyms: Courteous

Synonyms: gracious (adj), nice (adj). (additional references)

Antonym: discourteous (adj). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Benevolence	Good-natured, well-natured; spleenless; sympathizing, sympathetic; complaisant; (courteous); well-meant, well-intentioned.
Courtesy	Verb: be courteous; Adjective: show courtesy; n.
	Adjective: courteous, polite, civil, mannerly, urbane; well-behaved, well-mannered, well-bred, well-brought up; good-mannered, polished, civilized, cultivated; refined; (taste); gentlemanlike; (fashion); gallant; on one's good behavior.
Fashion	Adjective: fashionable; in fashion; Noun: a la mode, comme il faut; admitted in society, admissible in society; Noun: presentable; conventional; (customary); genteel; well-bred, well mannered, well behaved, well spoken; gentlemanlike, gentlemanly; ladylike; civil, polite; (courteous).
Humility	Condescending; affable; (courteous).
Retaliation	Tit for tat, give and take, blow for blow, quid pro quo, a Roland for an Oliver, measure for measure, diamond cut diamond, the biter bit, a game at which two can play; reproof valiant, retort courteous.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Domain	Usage
Screenplays	Our courteous and efficient staff is on call 24 hours a day to serve all your supernatural elimination needs. (Ghost Busters; writing credit: Dan Aykroyd; Harold Ramis)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Domain	Title
Books	Esperar Nuestro Turno (Ninos Educados - Courteous Kids) (reference) (more book examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Author	Quotation
George Washington	Be courteous to all, but intimate with few; and let those few be well tried before you give them confidence.
Ralph Waldo Emerson	We must be as courteous to a man as we are to a picture, which we are willing to give the advantage of a good light.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Title	Author	Quote
Scarlet Letter	Hawthorne, Nathaniel	Then, touching the shoulder of a townsman who stood next to him, he addressed him, in a formal and courteous manner.
Les Miserables	Hugo, Victor	What power there is in a courteous and serious examination!
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man	Joyce, James	The little word seemed to have turned a rapier point of his sensitiveness against this courteous and vigilant foe.
Gulliver's Travels	Swift, Jonathan	But if these censurers were better acquainted with the noble and courteous disposition of the Houyhnhnms, they would soon change their opinion.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Business		It is courteous to address them by their titles. (references)
Travel	Mexico	It is considered courteous for U.S. business people to speak a few words of Spanish. (references)
	New Zealand	It is regarded as common and courteous practice to make and keep appointments in a timely manner. (references)
	Bangladesh	Bangladeshi business executives are usually very courteous, and try to make their foreign guests feel at ease. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

"Courteous" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 99.63% of the time. "Courteous" is used about 270 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Adjective (general or positive)	99.63%	269	17,948
Noun (proper)	0.37%	1	339,140
Total	100.00%	270	N/A

The following table summarizes names derived from the word "courteous".
Name	Gender	Language	Meaning
Urbane	N/A	Biblical	Courteous
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Expressions using "courteous": be courteous ♦ retort courteous. Additional references.
Hypenated Usage
	Ending with "courteous": ever-courteous, ultra-courteous.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "courteous"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Afrikaans		beleef (experience, go through, live, live through, live to see, polite, survive, well-mannered). (various references)

Albanian		xhentil (kind, polite), njerëzor (earthborn, fleshly, human, polite), i sjellshëm (amiable, bland, complaisant, courtly, delicate, discreet, fair-spoken, gallant, genteel, good, kind, kindly, mannerly, nice, polite, suave, well bred, well mannered, well-behaved), i njerëzishëm (bland, human, humane, polite, urbane). (various references)

Arabic		‏كيس (bag, budget, capsule, cyst, elegant, encyst, graceful, pocket, polite, pouch, sac, sack), ‏مهذب (civil, civilized, corrected, cultivated, cultured, discipliner, educated, educator, fair-spoken, gentleman, mannerly, polished, polite, preceptor, purified, rectified, refined, respectable, teacher, urbane, well bred, well mannered), ‏مجامل (attentive, civil, complimentary), ‏لطيف (affable, agreeable, amiable, benign, bland, charming, civil, civilized, complaisance, complaisant, courtly, decent, delicate, fair, fair-spoken, fine, friendly, genial, gentle, good natured, gracious, handsome, kind, kindly, light, mild, nice, pet, pleasant, polite, poppet, pretty, refreshing, smooth, soft, suave, sweet, tender, tenuous, thin, urbane), ‏دمث (affable, gentle, mannerly, mild, pleasant, suave). (various references)

Bulgarian		учтив (attentive, civil, fair-spoken, forthcoming, mannerly, polite, suave, urbane, well mannered), любезен (accommodating, affable, agreeable, amiable, bland, complaisant, debonair, fair, fair-spoken, friendly, gentle, gracious, kind, mellow, nice, obliging, pleasant, polite, smooth, smooth spoken, smooth tongued, smooth-faced, soft spoken, urbane, well spoken). (various references)

Chinese		有礼貌, 有禮貌 (polite, politeness). (various references)

Czech		zdvořilý (civil, civil-spoken, fair-spoken, gracious, polite, respectful, suave, well mannered, well spoken), vlídný (affable, amiable, approachable, benign, cordial, genial, good, gracious, hospitable, kindly, mild, sweet, sweet-tempered), pozorný (attentive, civil, considerate, heedful, intent, observant, observing, regardful, thoughtful), galantní (chivalrous, gallant), dvorný (chivalrous, courting, gallant). (various references)

Danish		høflig (polite, well-mannered). (various references)

Dutch		wellevend (polite, well-mannered), welgemanierd (polite, well-mannered), beschaafd (accomplished, civilized, gentlemanlike, ladylike, polite, well-mannered). (various references)

Esperanto		bonmaniera (polite, well-mannered), ĝentila (polite, well-mannered). (various references)

Faeroese		fólkaligur (polite, well-mannered). (various references)

Farsi		فروتن (Daft, Humble, Low, Lowly, Meek, Modest, Slight, Submissive, Unassuming, Unpretentious, Venal), مودبانه (Urbane), مودب (Courtly, Debonair, Decorous, Housebroken, Mannerly, Nice, Respectful, Suave, Unselfish, Urbane), باادب (Housebroken, Polite, Respectful). (various references)

Finnish		kohtelias (polite, well-mannered). (various references)

French		poli (courtly), courtois (courtly). (various references)

German		höflich (bland, blandly, civil, civilly, complimentarily, complimentary, cordial, cordially, debonair, fairspoken, polite, politely, unrude, urbane, urbanely, well-mannered). (various references)

Greek		φιλοφρονητικόσ (complimentary), ευγενικόσ (amiable, civil, complaisant, considerate, courtly, genteel, gracious, kind, mannerly, polite, urbane), ευγενήσ (civil, courtly, debonair, gallant, genteel, gentle, gentlemanly, gracious, kindly, ladylike, nobble, nobleman, patrician, polite, soulful, thoroughbred, urbane, well mannered). (various references)

Hebrew		ממו�"ן (civilized, urban), מ� ומס (civil, decorous, gentleman, mannerly, polite, suave, tactful), א�"יב (affable, civil, gallant, genial, gracious, kind, kindly, mannerly, obliging, polite, suave, well mannered), � ימוסי (mannerly, polite). (various references)

Hungarian		udvarias (affable, bland, civil, civil-spoken, complacent, complaisant, courtly, fair-spoken, mannerly, neighborly, neighbourly, obliging, polite, to be gracious to sy, to wrap up his censure in a polite formula, urbane, well-mannered). (various references)

Icelandic		kurteis (polite, well-mannered). (various references)

Indonesian		sopan santun (good-breeding, polite, pudicity). (various references)

Italian		cortese (accommodating, affable, bland, complaisant, friendly, good-natured, gracious, kind, mannerly, neighborly, neighbourly, obliging, polite, respectful, urbane, well-mannered). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		懇ろ (hospitable, kind), 丁寧 (care, careful, close, conscientious, kind, polite, thorough). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		ぎれいてき (formal), おりめた� しい (good manners), ね�"�"ろ (hospitable, kind), ていねい (care, careful, close, conscientious, kind, polite, thorough), ていちょう (captain, dullness, hospitable, inactive, low tide, low tone, polite, slack, slow, sluggish, undertone, weakness), てあつい. (various references)

Korean		� �중한 (respectful). (various references)

Malay		sopan (polite, well-mannered), adab ... beradab (polite, well-mannered). (various references)

Manx		cooyrtoil (courtly, polite, refined). (various references)

Norwegian		høflig (polite, well-mannered). (various references)

Papiamen		gentil (polite, well-mannered), galante (polite, well-mannered). (various references)

Pig Latin		ourteouscay

Portuguese		cortês (chivalrous, civil, complimentary, debonair, mannerly, neighborly, neighbourly, parliamentary, polite, respectful, soft, suave, urbane, well-bred). (various references)

Portuguese Brazilian		cortês. (various references)

Romanian		curtenitor (bland, courteously, fair, fair-spoken), prevenitor (admonitory, amiable, amiably, cautionary), politicos (attentive, civil, complaisant, complimentary, considerate, fair, genteel, gentlemanlike, mannerly, parliamentary, polite, politely, respectful, well bred), manierat (attentive, ceremonious, courteously, courtly, genteel, gentle, gentlemanlike, mannered, mannerly, well bred, well mannered, well-behaved), gentil (amiable, gentle, polite, politely), galant (chivalrous, gallant, gallantly, generous, gentle, polite, swaggering), atent (advertent, alert, amiable, attentive, attentively, careful, carefully, close, closely, complaisant, considerate, curious, deliberately, delicate, heedful, intent, jealous, listening, mindfully, nice, observant, observantly, painstaking, regardful, searching, tender, watchful), amabil (affable, agreeable, amiable, amiably, bland, considerate, decent, endearing, fair, favorable, favourable, genial, good natured, good tempered, gracious, kind, kindly, lovable, obliging, obligingly, polite, politely, sweet-tempered). (various references)

Russian		учтивый (suave), вежливый (affable, attentive, bland, courtly, fair-spoken, mannerly, parliamentary, polite, respectful, urbane). (various references)

Scottish		soirbh (easy, facile, pliant, prosperous; safe, quiet), sìobhalta (civil, peaceful), aoigheil (affable, hospitable, kind). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		uljudan (decorous, genteel, well mannered), učtiv (affable, bland, civilized, polite, respectful, urbane, well mannered, well spoken, well-behaved). (various references)

Spanish		cortés (attentive, civil, complaisant, courtly, debonair, gallant, genteel, gracious, mannerly, polite, suave, urbane, well bred, well mannered, well-mannered). (various references)

Swedish		hövlig (civil, fair-spoken, polite, well-mannered), artig (chivalrous, civil, civil-spoken, courtly, couth, fair-spoken, gallant, gentle, mannerly, polite, well-mannered). (various references)

Turkish		saygılı (considerate, deferent, deferential, dutiful, fearful, obeisant, pious, regardful, respectful, reverent, reverential), nazik (affable, attentive, brittle, civil, civilized, civil-spoken, complaisant, considerate, dainty, debonair, debonaire, decent, delicate, distingue, Douce, eggshell, exquisite, fair, genteel, gentle, gracious, kid glove, kind, mannerly, mild, obliging, parliamentary, polished, polite, suave, sweet-natured, tender, ticklish, tickly, touchy, trickish, tricky, urbane, well disposed), kibar (aristocratic, aristocratical, attentive, blancmange, bland, chivalrous, civil, civilized, courtly, distingue, Douce, elegant, exquisite, fashionable, gallant, genteel, gentle, kid glove, mild, nice, parliamentary, polished, polite, refined, sharp, urbane, well born, well disposed, well mannered), ince (attenuate, attic, brittle, civilized, dainty, delicate, fine, fragile, graceful, gracile, gracious, keen, lean, nice, polite, precision, refined, scarious, sharp, slender, slim, subtile, subtle, sylphish, sylphlike, sylphy, tenuous, thin, trickish, tricksy, tricky, urbane, vaporous). (various references)

Turkmen		sypaяy (elegant). (various references)

Ukrainian		чемний (affable, attentive, civil, debonair, gentlemanly, mannerly, well spoken), ввічливий (affable, bland, civil, complaisant, conventional, courtly, debonair, diplomatic, discreet, mannerly, polite, respectful, suave, urbane), люб'язний (accommodating, affable, amiable, attentive, complaisant, dear, good, kind, nice, obliging, polite), привітний (affable, amiable, communicable, companionable, hospitable, neighborly, neighbourly). (various references)

Vietnamese		nhã nhặn (affable, civil-spoken, courtly, delicate), lịch sự (affable, chic, civil-spoken, courtly, gentlemanlike, gentlemanly, urbane, well-mannered). (various references)

Welsh		cwrtais, syberw (proud). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	affabilem, affabilis, comis, facile, facilem, facili, faciliora, faciliori, facilis, facilius, liberali, liberalis, liberalissimi, urbanum. (various references)
Old French	900-1400	curteis, galant. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Language	Date	Source	1 Peter Chapter 3, Verse 8
Greek (transliterated)	250 BC	Septuagint	To de teloV panteV omofroneV sumpaqeiV filadelfoi eusplagcnoi filofroneV
Latin	405	Vulgate	In fine autem omnes unianimes conpatientes fraternitatis amatores misericordes humiles
Middle English	1395	Wyclif	And in feith alle of oon wille in preier be ye eche suffringe with othere, loueris of britherhod, merciful, mylde, meke;
Renaissance English	1526	Tyndale	In coclusion be ye all of one mynde one suffre with another love as brethren be petifull be courteous
Jacobean English	1611	King James	Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:
Victorian English	1833	Webster	Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another; love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:
Basic English	1964	Ogden	Last of all, see that you are all in agreement; feeling for one another, loving one another like brothers, full of pity, without pride:
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Language	1 Peter Chapter 3, Verse 8
Cebuano	¶ Sa katapusan, kamong tanan kinahanglan managkaduyog, magbinatiay, maghigugmaay ingon nga mga magsoon, maloloy-on sa kasingkasing, ug mapaubsanon sa hunahuna,
Croatian	Napokon, budite svi jednodušni, puni suosjeæanja i bratske ljubavi, milosrdni, ponizni!
Danish	Og til Slutning værer alle enssindede, medlidende, kærlige imod Brødrene, barmhjertige, ydmyge;
Dutch	En eindelijk, zijt allen eensgezind, medelijdend, de broeders liefhebbende, met innerlijke barmhartigheid bewogen, vriendelijk;
Finnish	Ja lopuksi: olkaa kaikki yksimielisiä, helläsydämisiä, veljiä kohtaan rakkaita, armahtavaisia, nöyriä.
French	Enfin, soyez tous animés des mêmes pensées et des mêmes sentiments, pleins d`amour fraternel, de compassion, d`humilité.
German	Endlich aber seid allesamt gleichgesinnt, mitleidig, brüderlich, barmherzig, freundlich.
Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari	Kesimpulannya ialah: hendaklah Saudara-saudara seia sekata dan seperasaan. Hendaklah kalian saling sayang-menyayangi seperti orang-orang yang bersaudara. Dan hendaklah kalian saling berbelaskasihan dan bersikap rendah hati.
Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama	Pada akhirnya, hendaklah kamu sekalian sehati, dan berbelas kasihan, dan mengasihi segala saudara, dan penyayang, dan rendah hati;
Italian	E finalmente siate tutti concordi, partecipi delle gioie e dei dolori degli altri, animati da affetto fraterno, misericordiosi, umili;
Latvian	Bet beidzot esiet visi vienprâtîgi, lîdzcietîgi, brâlîgi, þçlsirdîgi, pacietîgi, pazemîgi!
Maori	¶ Na, ko te whakamutunga nei o taku, kia kotahi te whakaaro o te katoa, kia kotahi te ngakau, kia rite te aroha ki to te tuakana, ki to te teina, kia pai te ngakau, kia ngawari:
Norwegian	Og til slutning: Vær alle enige, medlidende, kjærlige mot brødrene, barmhjertige, ydmyke,
Portuguese	Finalmente, sede todos de um mesmo sentimento, compassivos, cheios de amor fraternal, misericordiosos, humildes,
Russian	оБЛПОЕ�" �'Х�"ШФЕ ЧУЕ Е�"ЙОПНЩУМЕООЩ, УПУФТБ�"БФЕМШОЩ, �'ТБФПМА�'ЙЧЩ, НЙМПУЕТ�"Щ, �"ТХЦЕМА�'ОЩ, УНЙТЕООПНХ�"ТЩ;
Shuar	¶ Nuyasha Ashí Yús-shuartirmin Tájarme, aya Chikichík enentaik Atí. Waitnennairatarum. Nekas yatsum aneam Núnisrumek anenaitiarum. Aya áminiuk Enentáimtutsuk chikichan Yáintaj tu Enentáimsatarum.
Spanish	Finalmente, sed todos de un mismo sentir: compasivos, amándoos fraternalmente, misericordiosos y humildes.
Swahili	Mwisho nasema hivi: mnapaswa kuwa na moyo mmoja, na fikira moja; mnapaswa kupendana kidugu, kuwa wapole na wanyenyekevu ninyi kwa ninyi.
Uma	¶ Ka'omea-na, tuwu' hintuwu' -ta omea, hameha' hawa' pai' hanono lau, momepoka'ahi' hewa to ntali ompi', lompe' nono pai' mpakadingki' nono hi doo.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "courteous": courteously, courteousness, courteousnesses. (additional references)
	Words ending with "courteous": discourteous. (additional references)
	Words containing "courteous": discourteously, discourteousness, discourteousnesses. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Courteous" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: coureous, courteaous, courteas, courteousy, courtiols, courtious, courtois, cousteaus, cuortious, curteis, curteous, curtious, Fourtou. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "courteous" (pronounced ker"tēus)
3	-ē u s	acrimonious, alias, amphibious, aqueous, bilious, coleus, commodious, contemporaneous, copious, curious, deleterious, delirious, denarius, devious, dubious, envious, erroneous, extraneous, fastidious, felonious, furious, gaseous, glorious, gregarious, harmonious, hideous, hilarious, homogeneous, igneous, ignominious, illustrious, imperious, impervious, industrious, inglorious, injurious, insidious, instantaneous, invidious, laborious, lascivious, lugubrious, luxurious, melodious, meritorious, miscellaneous, mysterious, nefarious, notorious, nucleus, oblivious, obsequious, obvious, odious, pancreas, penurious, percutaneous, precarious, previous, punctilious, radius, sanctimonious, Sartorius, serious, simultaneous, spontaneous, spurious, studious, supercilious, tedious, unceremonious, various, vicarious, victorious, vitreous.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "c-e-o-o-r-s-t-u-u"
	-1 letter: coutures, outcurse, outscore.
	-2 letters: cooters, couters, couture, scooter, scouter.
	-3 letters: cerous, cooers, cooter, corset, coster, course, courts, couter, crouse, cruets, cruset, curets, eructs, escort, ouster, outers, rectos, rectus, recuts, roscoe, routes, scoter, sector, source, souter, stoure, suture, torose, torous, truces, uterus.
	-4 letters: ceros, cooer, coots, cores, corse, coset, cotes, court, crest, cruet, cruse, crust.
	Words containing the letters "c-e-o-o-r-s-t-u-u"
	+1 letter: courthouse.
	+2 letters: courteously, courthouses, outproduces.
	+3 letters: countercoups, discourteous, monocultures, overcautious.
	+4 letters: courteousness, outreproduces.
	+5 letters: discourteously, superconductor.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

Expression	Frequency per Day
courteous	7
canine courteous	2
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Courteous

Definition: Courteous

Courteous

Adjective

Synonyms: Courteous

Synonyms within Context: Courteous

Benevolence

Courtesy

Fashion

Humility

Retaliation

Crosswords: Courteous

Modern Usage: Courteous

Screenplays

Commercial Usage: Courteous

Books

Image Slideshow: Courteous

Illustrations:Courteous

Familiar Quotations: Courteous

George Washington

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Use in Literature: Courteous

Scarlet Letter

Hawthorne, Nathaniel

Les Miserables

Hugo, Victor

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Joyce, James

Gulliver's Travels

Swift, Jonathan

Non-Fiction Usage: Courteous

Usage Frequency: Courteous

Derived & Related Names: Courteous

Expressions: Courteous

Frequency of Internet Keywords: Courteous

Modern Translation: Courteous

Afrikaans

Albanian

Arabic

Bulgarian

Chinese

Czech

Danish

Dutch

Esperanto

Faeroese

Farsi

Finnish

French

German

Greek

Hebrew

Hungarian

Icelandic

Indonesian

Italian

Japanese Kanji

Japanese Katakana

Korean

Malay

Manx

Norwegian

Papiamen

Pig Latin

Portuguese

Portuguese Brazilian

Romanian

Russian

Scottish

Serbo-Croatian

Spanish

Swedish

Turkish

Turkmen

Ukrainian

Vietnamese

Welsh

Ancestral Language Translations: Courteous

Bible Trace: Courteous

Matched Bible Translations: Courteous

Illustrations:
Courteous