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Kowtow originated as a noun referring to the act of kneeling and touching one's head to the ground as a salute or act of worship to a revered authority. In traditional China this ritual was performed by commoners making requests to the local magistrate, by the emperor to the shrine of Confucius, or by foreign representatives appearing before the emperor to establish trade relations. (In the late 18th century, some Western nations resisted performing the ritual, which acknowledged the Chinese emperor as the "son of heaven.") The word kowtow derives from Chinese koutou, formed by combining the verb kou ("to knock") with the noun tou ("head").
Examples of kowtow in a Sentence
The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 7 May 2025
Where the refusal of the Ukrainian president to don a suit for the Oval Office becomes a public symbol of his refusal to kowtow.
—Vanessa Friedman, New York Times, 1 May 2025
Trudy Rubin, The Mercury News, 1 Mar. 2025
At a time when more corporations and media organizations seem eager to court Trump’s favor, moving Acosta to a previously unfilled shift might be viewed as a sort of kowtow.
—Brian Steinberg, Variety, 17 Jan. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Kowtow.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kowtow. Accessed 4 Jun. 2025.
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