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
- undercourtier noun
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.
A beneficiary might have to bow and scrape like a courtier, or accept treatment as a glorified servant.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 10, 2026
He has survived multiple damaging scandals and found his way back to power every time, like a wily Renaissance courtier or an unkillable horror-movie villain, and may well survive this one.
From Salon • Nov. 30, 2025
Some of this may be down to Mr Case's "inexperience" as a senior civil servant, he suggested, and his apparent desire to act as "courtier" to ministers, rather than an impartial adviser.
From BBC • Mar. 7, 2023
Guilt over his father’s death is part of what drives him to make himself indispensable to Sunny, a courtier currying a prince’s favor.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 3, 2023
The portraits of other courtier children circle hers.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
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.
