kowtow

English

WOTD – 23 November 2006

Alternative forms

• kotow

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkaʊˌtaʊ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊ

Verb

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

1. (intransitive) 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.

2. (intransitive) To bow very deeply.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

3. (intransitive, figuratively) To act in a very submissive manner.
   • 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.”

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), 叩头 (kau³ tau⁴)

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

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

• 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)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: knien (de)
• 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 (meorireul joarida), 고두하다 (ko) (goduhada)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: knele (no), gjøre knefall

• Portuguese: fazer o kowtow
• Russian: де́лать коуто́у (délatʹ koutóu)
• Serbo-Croatian: klanjati se do zemlje, prostrirati, metanisati (sh)
• Spanish: postrarse (es), prosternarse (es)
• Vietnamese: 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)
• Portuguese: prostrar-se
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: де́лать ни́зкий покло́н (délatʹ nízkij poklón)
• Serbo-Croatian: metanisati (sh), klanjati se do zemlje

act submissively

• Czech: poklonkovat
• Danish: underkaste sig, give efter, føje, krybe til korset
• Dutch: zich (nl) aanpassen (nl), onderdanig (nl) zijn (nl)
• Esperanto: kliniĝi
• Finnish: nöyristellä (fi), kumarrella (fi)
• Georgian: ქედმოხრა (kedmoxra)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: den Kotau (de) machen, zu Kreuze kriechen (de), kuschen (de)
• Norwegian:

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

• Russian: преклоня́ться (ru) (preklonjátʹsja), пресмыка́ться (ru) (presmykátʹsja), раболе́пствовать (ru) (rabolépstvovatʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: klanjati se do zemlje, metanisati (sh)

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), 叩头 (kau³ tau⁴)

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

• Danish: kowtow, koutou
• Dutch: buiging (nl) f, kotau m
• Finnish: kowtow-kumarrus
• French: kowtow m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: Kotau (de) m
• Japanese: 叩頭 (こうとう, kōtō), (Japanese way) 土下座 (ja) (どげざ, dogeza)
• Korean: 고두 (ko) (godu) (叩頭)
• Norwegian: kowtow
• Portuguese: kowtow m
• Russian: (indeclinable) коуто́у n (koutóu), покло́н (ru) m (poklón)
• Swedish: koutou
• Vietnamese: khấu đầu (vi) (叩頭), sự quỳ lạy, sự khúm núm (vi)

See also

• prostrate

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Portuguese

Noun

kowtow m (plural s)

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