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Kowtow

March 11, 2009 by The Judge  
Filed under Words and Phrases

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Another word for grovel or ‘bow and scrape’ is kowtow.

Chinese ke tou is the act of deep respect shown by bowing so low as to touch your head to the ground.

Ke means ‘bump’ and tou means ‘head’. A subject would kowtow to the Emperor or other superior.

Kowtow came into English in the early nineteenth century to describe the bow itself, but its meaning soon shifted to describe any act or attitude of grovelling.

‘Bootlicking’ is a similar concept.

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