etiquette

Meaning

Noun

• The forms required by a good upbringing, or prescribed by authority, to be observed in social or official life; observance of the proprieties of rank and occasion; conventional decorum; ceremonial code of polite society.
• The customary behavior of members of a profession, business, law, or sports team towards each other.
• A label used to indicate that a letter is to be sent by airmail.

Origin

• 1740, from French étiquette, from Middle French estiquette, from the Old French verb estechier, (compare Picard estiquier), from Frankish *stekan, *stikkan, *stikjan, from Proto-Germanic *stikaną, *stikōną, *staikijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teyg-.
• Akin to Old High German stehhan (German stechen), Old English stician.
• The French Court of Louis XIV at Versailles used étiquettes to remind courtiers to keep off of the grass and similar rules. More at stick (verb) and stitch. ticket.