tutoyer

[ too-twah-yey; French ty-twa-yey ]

verb (used with object),tu·toy·ered or tu·toy·ed [too-twah-yeyd], /ˌtu twɑˈyeɪd/, tu·toy·er·ing [too-twah-yey-ing]. /ˌtu twɑˈyeɪ ɪŋ/.
  1. to address (someone), especially in French, using the familiar forms of the pronoun “you” rather than the more formal forms; address familiarly.

Origin of tutoyer

1
1690–1700; <French, to address as tu and toi (the familiar singular forms for “you” in French)

Words Nearby tutoyer

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use tutoyer in a sentence

  • I was half inclined to array myself in drab, and tutoyer the first of the body I chanced to encounter in my walks abroad.

    Mystic London: | Charles Maurice Davies
  • And it depends a great deal upon circumstances whether it is affection or insult to tutoyer a stranger.

    Hester, Volume 1 (of 3) | Margaret Oliphant
  • I should not have recognized her, and I don't dare to tutoyer the young lady!

    Strong as Death | Guy de Maupassant
  • And during the sixteen months of his studentship he grew sufficiently familiar with some of his fellow-students even to tutoyer.

    Odd Bits of History | Henry W. Wolff