courtier

English

Etymology

From Middle English courteour, from Anglo-Norman corteour, Old French cortoiier, from cort (“court”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɔɹtiɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɔːtɪə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /ˈko(ː)ɹtiɚ/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /ˈkoətɪə/
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)tiə(ɹ)

Noun

courtier (plural courtiers)

1. A person in attendance at a royal court.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

     By the Lord, Horatio, this three years I have taken note of it, the age is grown so picked that the toe of the peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier he galls his kibe.

2. A person who flatters in order to seek favour.
   • 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 12, in The Line of Beauty […], London: Picador, →ISBN:

     People shouted cheerfully and flinched, but the Prime Minister didn't flinch, she fortified her voice with a firm diapason as if rising to the challenge of a rowdy Chamber. Around her her courtiers started like pheasants.

   • 2024 November 22, Theodore Schleifer, “Elon Musk Gets a Crash Course in How Trumpworld Works”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     The world’s richest person, not known for his humility, is still learning the cutthroat courtier politics of Donald Trump’s inner circle — and his ultimate influence remains an open question.

     (Can we archive this URL?)

3. (entomology) Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the Asian genus Sephisa.

Derived terms

• anticourtier
• courtierdom
• courtieress
• courtierism
• courtierlike
• courtierly
• courtiership

Related terms

• court
• courtesan

Translations

attendant at a royal court

• Belarusian: прыдво́рны m (prydvórny), прыдво́рная f (prydvórnaja)
• Bulgarian: придво́рен (bg) m (pridvóren), придво́рна (bg) f (pridvórna)
• Catalan: cortesà (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 廷臣 (zh) (tíngchén), 朝臣 (zh) (cháochén)

• Czech: dvořan (cs) m, dvořanka f
• Danish: hofmand c
• Dutch: hoveling (nl) m
• Esperanto: kortegano
• Finnish: hoviherra (fi), hovimies (fi)
• French: courtisan (fr) m
• German: Höfling (de) m
• Greek: αυλικός (el) m (avlikós)

  Ancient: αὐλικός m (aulikós)

• Hungarian: udvaronc (hu)
• Irish: cúirteoir m
• Italian: cortigiano (it) m
• Japanese: 廷臣 (ja) (ていしん, teishin)
• Korean: 정신(廷臣) (ko) (jeongsin)
• Latin: aulicus m, cūriālis m
• Macedonian: дворјанин m (dvorjanin), дворјанка f (dvorjanka)
• Middle English: courteour
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hoffmann m

• Occitan: cortesan m
• Old Czech: dvořěnín m
• Polish: dworzanin (pl) m, dworka f, dwórka (pl) f
• Portuguese: cortesão (pt) m
• Romanian: curtean (ro) m
• Russian: придво́рный (ru) m (pridvórnyj), придво́рная (ru) f (pridvórnaja), царедво́рец (ru) m (caredvórec)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: дво̀ранин m, дворанка f

  Roman: dvòranin (sh) m, dvoranka f

• Slovak: dvoran m, dvoranka f
• Slovene: dvorjan m, dvorjanka f
• Spanish: cortesano (es) m
• Swedish: hovman (sv) c
• Ukrainian: придво́рний m (prydvórnyj), придво́рна (uk) f (prydvórna)
• Vietnamese: triều thần (vi), cận thần (vi)

a person who flatters in order to seek favour

• German: Schmeichler (de) m
• Greek: κόλακας (el) m (kólakas)
• Polish: pochlebca (pl) m, przydupas (pl) m
• Romanian: curtezan (ro) m
• Russian: подхали́м (ru) m (podxalím), льстец (ru) m (lʹstec)
• Vietnamese: nịnh thần (vi)

Anagrams

• outcrier

French

Etymology

From Old French courre (“to run”) (compare Modern French courir) + -etier.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kuʁ.tje/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

courtier m (plural courtiers, feminine courtière)

1. broker; stockbroker

Further reading

• “courtier”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.