kowtow

English

WOTD – 23 November 2006

Alternative forms

• kotoo (obsolete)
• kotow

Etymology

From Sinitic 叩頭／叩头 (Cantonese 叩頭／叩头 (kau³ tau⁴) / Mandarin 叩頭／叩头 (kòutóu)), literally "knock head".

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkaʊˌtaʊ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊ

Verb

kowtow (third-person singular simple present kowtows, present participle kowtowing, simple past and past participle kowtowed)

1. (intransitive, figuratively) To grovel, act in a very submissive manner.
   • 1984 December 30, Jim Davis, Garfield‎^[1] (comic):

     I suppose you're going to be nice to Odie and kowtow to Jon and lick the mailman's boots! I don't like you already.

   • 2015, Oleg V. Khlevniuk, Stalin: New Biography of a Dictator, Yale University Press, →ISBN, page 265:

     The letter to Razin contained another thought that preoccupied Stalin in the first months after the war: the need to avoid “kowtowing to the West,” including showing “unwarranted respect” for the “military authorities of Germany.”

2. (intransitive, historical) To kneel and bow low enough to touch one’s forehead to the ground.
   • 2013, Wendy Swartz, Robert Ford Campany, Yang Lu, Jessey J. C. Choo, Early Medieval China: A Sourcebook, Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 645:

     When the weather turned cold, the tears that he shed would become frozen like veins; the blood on his forehead from kowtowing would also freeze and would not drip.

3. (intransitive) To bow very deeply.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

4. (by extension) To bow to or show obeisance to.

Derived terms

• kowtower
• kowtowing

Translations

kneel such that forehead touches ground

• Arabic: سَجَدَ (ar) (sajada), تَمَلَّقَ (tamallaqa), رَكَعَ (rakaʕa)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 叩頭／叩头 (kau³ tau⁴)

  Hokkien: 磕頭／磕头 (kha̍p-thâu), 叩頭／叩头 (zh-min-nan) (khàu-thâu)

  Mandarin: 叩頭／叩头 (zh) (kòutóu), 磕頭／磕头 (zh) (kētóu)

• Czech: klanět se až k zemi impf
• Danish: knæle, prostrere
• Dutch: knielen (nl), zich (nl) buigen (nl)
• Finnish: tehdä kowtow
• French: se prosterner (fr), s’agenouiller (fr)
• Georgian: ქედმოხრა (kedmoxra)
• German: einen Kotau machen
• Hungarian: földre borul, leborul (hu), hétrét görnyed
• Japanese: 叩頭く (ぬかつく, nukatsuku), 土下座をする (ja) (どげざをする, dogeza o suru)
• Korean: 머리를 조아리다 (meori-reul joarida), 고두(叩頭)하다 (goduhada)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: knele (no), gjøre knefall

• Portuguese: fazer o kowtow, reverenciar (pt)
• Russian: де́лать коуто́у (délatʹ koutóu)
• Serbo-Croatian: klanjati se do zemlje, prostrirati, metanisati (sh)
• Spanish: postrarse (es), prosternarse (es)
• Vietnamese: lạy (vi), khấu đầu (vi) (叩頭), quỳ lạy, khúm núm (vi), quỵ luỵ (vi)

bow deeply

• Dutch: zich (nl) (diep (nl)) buigen (nl)
• Finnish: kumartaa syvään
• Georgian: ქედმოხრა (kedmoxra)
• Hungarian: meghajol (hu)
• Portuguese: prostrar-se
• Russian: де́лать ни́зкий покло́н (délatʹ nízkij poklón)
• Serbo-Croatian: metanisati (sh), klanjati se do zemlje
• Ukrainian: бити чолом (uk) impf (byty čolom), вклонятися impf (vklonjatysja) (торкаючись головою землі)

act submissively

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Burmese: please add this translation if you can
• Czech: poklonkovat
• Danish: underkaste sig, give efter (da), føje, krybe til korset
• Dutch: zich (nl) aanpassen (nl), onderdanig (nl) zijn (nl)
• Esperanto: kliniĝi
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Faroese: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: nöyristellä (fi), kumarrella (fi)
• Georgian: ქედმოხრა (kedmoxra)
• German: kriechen (de), kuschen (de), katzbuckeln (de), dienern (de), zu Kreuze kriechen (de), den Kotau (de) machen
• Greek: please add this translation if you can
• Hebrew: התרפס (he) (hitrapés), התחנף (he) (hitkhanéf), השתעבד (hishtaabéd)
• Hungarian: hajbókol (hu), megalázkodik (hu), csúszik-mászik (hu), alázatoskodik (hu)
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: underkaste seg, gi etter (no), føye seg, krype til korset (no)

• Polish: kłaniać się (pl)
• Romanian: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: преклоня́ться (ru) (preklonjátʹsja), пресмыка́ться (ru) (presmykátʹsja), раболе́пствовать (ru) (rabolépstvovatʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: klanjati se do zemlje, metanisati (sh)
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: khúm núm (vi), quỳ lạy, quỵ luỵ (vi)
• Volapük: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: please add this translation if you can
• West Coast Bajau: please add this translation if you can
• Wolof: please add this translation if you can
• Yámana: please add this translation if you can
• Yiddish: please add this translation if you can
• Yucatec Maya: please add this translation if you can
• Yup'ik: please add this translation if you can
• Zazaki: please add this translation if you can
• Zhuang: please add this translation if you can
• Zulu: please add this translation if you can

Noun

kowtow (plural kowtows)

1. The act of kowtowing.
   • 1990, Hugh D. R. Baker, Hong Kong Images: People and Animals, Hong Kong University Press, →ISBN, page 93:

     Three elders dressed in their long silk ceremonial gowns perform the kowtow before the altar in their clan ancestral hall.

Translations

kowtowing

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 叩頭／叩头 (kau³ tau⁴)

  Mandarin: 叩頭／叩头 (zh) (kòutóu), 磕頭／磕头 (zh) (kētóu)

• Danish: kowtow, koutou
• Dutch: buiging (nl) f, kotau m
• Finnish: kowtow-kumarrus
• French: kowtow (fr) m
• German: Kotau (de) m
• Japanese: 叩頭 (ja) (こうとう, kōtō), (Japanese way) 土下座 (ja) (どげざ, dogeza)
• Korean: 고두(叩頭) (ko) (godu)
• Norwegian: kowtow
• Portuguese: kowtow m
• Russian: (indeclinable) коуто́у n (koutóu), покло́н (ru) m (poklón)
• Swedish: koutou
• Ukrainian: чолобитна f (čolobytna), чолобиття n (čolobyttja), уклін m (uklin), коутоу n (koutou)
• Vietnamese: khấu đầu (vi) (叩頭), sự quỳ lạy, sự khúm núm (vi)

See also

• prostrate

Portuguese

Noun

kowtow m (plural kowtows)

1. kowtow (bow low enough to touch one’s forehead to the ground)