courtier means A person in attendance at a royal court.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, courtier ranks #2,350 of 14,448 for Most Incisive Words, #7,082 of 14,423 for Most Sublime Words, #7,100 of 14,440 for Most Satisfying to Say, #7,102 of 14,448 for Funniest Words.
courtier is pronounced /ˈkɔɹtiɚ/.
Why “courtier” is a great word
A person who attends a royal court as a companion or adviser to a sovereign, often one who seeks political or social favor through flattery, intrigue, and studied performance. From Middle English courteour (14th century), from Anglo-Norman corteour, Old French cortoiier, from Old French cort ("court"). Unlike a courtesan, historically a female companion entangled with intimacy and patronage, or a servant, bound by explicit duty and lower station, the courtier operates in the ambiguous realm of influence, where service is a strategic art. He is the fixed, polished smile in the antechamber, the perfectly timed laugh at a mediocre jest, the figure who masters the geometry of bows. The courtier lives in the architecture of watching: learning the temperature of rooms, the weight of silences, the exact degree of bow that flatters without groveling, where success is invisible and failure is not.
Etymology
From Middle English courteour, from Anglo-Norman corteour, Old French cortoiier, from cort (“court”). By surface analysis, court + -ier.
noun
- A person in attendance at a royal court.“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.”
- A person who flatters in order to seek favour.“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.”
- Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the Asian genus Sephisa.
Words closest in meaning
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