tutoyer

American  

[too-twah-yey, ty-twa-yey] / ˌtu twɑˈjeɪ, tü twaˈjeɪ /

verb (used with object)

tutoyered, tutoyed, tutoyering

1. 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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Etymology

Origin of tutoyer

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

Example Sentences

“I am Dominique. Just call me Dominique. Not Madame—Dominique. I will tutoyer you. You can tutoyer me, too,” she says, indicating that we’re all to use the informal form of address.

From The New Yorker • Aug. 1, 2016

C'est mon sentiment que nos relations ne peuvent pas se bien continuer si vous ne me donnez pas la permission de vous tutoyer.

From Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin by Stevenson, Robert Louis

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

From Mystic London: or, Phases of occult life in the metropolis by Davies, Charles Maurice

You are permitted to call Monsieur Lemaitre mon camarade; to tutoyer Mademoiselle Theodorine.

From A Book of the Play Studies and Illustrations of Histrionic Story, Life, and Character by Cook, Dutton

This caf� was a friendly, homely, sociable spot, where it seemed the habit of the master of the establishment to tutoyer his customers and the practice of the customers to tutoyer the waiter.

From A Little Tour of France by Pennell, Joseph