Etymology

kowtow

K5O1W4T1O1W4

Today it means: To kneel and bow low enough to touch one’s forehead to the ground. Full definition →

Cantonese 叩頭 /叩头 ← Mandarin 叩頭 /叩头
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The story

  1. Mandarin · borrowed from叩頭 /叩头
  2. Cantonese · borrowed from叩頭 /叩头
  3. English todaykowtow

From either Cantonese 叩頭 /叩头 (kau³ tau⁴) or Mandarin 叩頭 /叩头 (kòutóu). Literally, “knock head”.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.