Etymology

courtesy

cour·te·sy
C3O1U1R1T1E1S1Y4

Today it means: Polite behavior. Full definition →

Middle English curteisie ← Anglo-Norman curtesie ← Old French curteisie
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The story

  1. Old French · derived fromcurteisie
  2. Anglo-Norman · derived fromcurtesie
  3. Middle English · inherited fromcurteisie
  4. English todaycourtesy

From Middle English curteisie, curtesie, from Anglo-Norman curtesie, from Old French curteisie, cortoisie. Equivalent to courteous + -y (abstract noun suffix). By surface analysis, court + -esy.

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishcurteisie all →

curtsey

Anglo-Normancurtesie all →

curtsey

Old Frenchcurteisie all →

curtsey

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.