courtier
Americannoun
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a person who is often in attendance at the court of a king or other royal personage.
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a person who seeks favor by flattery, charm, etc.
noun
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an attendant at a court
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a person who seeks favour in an ingratiating manner
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of courtier
1250–1300; Middle English courteour < Anglo-French courte ( i ) our, equivalent to Old French cortoy ( er ) to attend at court (derivative of court court ) + Anglo-French -our < Latin -ōr- -or 2; suffix later conformed to -ier 1
Explanation
A courtier is someone who serves as an attendant or assistant to a member of a royal family. Among the courtiers of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II is Edward Young, her private secretary. Courtiers are workers in a king or queen's royal court, or "those who attend the court of a sovereign." Famous courtiers include Anne Boleyn, who attended King Henry VIII's wife Catherine of Aragon before marrying the king herself, becoming his second wife, and eventually being beheaded for treason. In Shakespeare's Hamlet, the comic courtiers Rosencrantz and Guildenstern also end up beheaded. In fact, it might be wise to choose a career other than courtier.
Vocabulary lists containing courtier
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
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The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
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The Renaissance and Early Modern European History - Introductory
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Courtier Robert Cheseman, Henry VIII’s falconer, gives the same look in a 1533 portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger, one of several magnificent Holbeins on view in “The Tudors: Art and Majesty in Renaissance England.”
From Washington Post • Dec. 30, 2022
Attorneys for Courtier and Hunt did not return phone calls Tuesday.
From US News • Sep. 13, 2016
Well, you can probably forget about the old books of manners - Baldassare Castiglione's Book of the Courtier, for example.
From BBC • Mar. 13, 2014
Bellevue College Baseball Camps —for ages 7-15 are offering sessions in August at Courtier Field on the Bellevue College campus.
From Seattle Times • Aug. 12, 2013
I pondered Horatio’s question in earnest, for this was a chance to talk of love like the noble ladies in Castiglione’s Book of the Courtier.
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
