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tutoyer

[ too-twah-yey; French ty-twa-yey ]
/ ˌtu twɑˈyeɪ; French tü twaˈyeɪ /
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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/.
to address (someone), especially in French, using the familiar forms of the pronoun “you” rather than the more formal forms; address familiarly.
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Origin of tutoyer

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

Words nearby tutoyer

tutor, tutorage, tutoress, tutorial, tutorial system, tutoyer, tutsan, Tutsi, tutti, tutti-frutti, tutto
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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
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