tutoyer

American  

[too-twah-yey, ty-twa-yey] / ˌtu twɑˈyeɪ, tü twaˈyeɪ /

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

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

But he was growing warm, and began to tutoyer Hereward.

From Hereward, the Last of the English by Kingsley, Charles

She raised her head as if she were surprised to hear him tutoyer her, and replied, as she looked at him fixedly: "Perfectly."

From The Grandee by Palacio Valdés, Armando

This cafe 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 cus- tomers to tutoyer the waiter.

From A Little Tour in France by James, Henry