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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").
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Examples of kowtow in a Sentence
Greg Evans, Deadline, 24 Sep. 2024
Rather than challenging that xenophobic ideology, many policy makers kowtow to it, helping to shift the political dial more to the right.
—Banseka Kayembe, refinery29.com, 9 Aug. 2024
Furthermore, the other side is -- is kowtowing, is doing what the fossil fuel industry wants to do.
—ABC News, 23 June 2024
Franklin could have kowtowed to this member and attempted to win him over with flattery.
—Eric Weiner, TIME, 11 June 2024
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“Kowtow.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kowtow. Accessed 1 Dec. 2024.
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