Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The practices and forms prescribed by social convention or by authority.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A ticket or label, specifically one attached to a specimen of natural history.
  • noun Conventional requirement or custom in regard to social behavior or observance; prescriptive usage, especially in polite society or for ceremonial intercourse; propriety of conduct as established in any class or community or for any occasion; good manners; polite behavior.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The forms required by good breeding, or prescribed by authority, to be observed in social or official life; observance of the proprieties of rank and occasion; conventional decorum; ceremonial code of polite society.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The forms required by good breeding, or prescribed by authority, to be observed in social or official life; observance of the proprieties of rank and occasion; conventional decorum; ceremonial code of polite society.
  • noun The customary behavior of members of a profession, business, law, or sports team towards each other.
  • noun A label used to indicate that a letter is to be sent by airmail.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun rules governing socially acceptable behavior

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, from Old French estiquet, label; see ticket.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

1740, from French étiquette "property, a little piece of paper, or a mark or title, affixed to a bag or bundle, expressing its contents, a label, ticket" from Middle French estiquette ("ticket, memorandum"), from Old French estiquette, from estechier, estichier, estequier "to attach, stick", (compare Picard estiquier "to stick, pierce"), from Frankish *stikkan, stikjan ("to stick, pierce, sting"), from Proto-Germanic *stikanan, *stikōnan, *staikijanan (“to be sharp, pierce, prick”), from Proto-Indo-European *st(e)ig-, *(s)teig- (“to be sharp, to stab”). Akin to Old High German stehhan "to stick, attach, nail" (German stechen "to stick"), Old English stician "to pierce, stab, be fastened". The French Court of Louis XIV at Versailles used étiquettes, "little cards", to remind courtiers to keep off of the grass and similar rules. More at stick (verb), stitch.

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Examples

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  • Knowing which fingers to put in your mouth when you whistle for the waiter.

    February 17, 2008

  • Its double 't' at the end :)

    February 20, 2008

  • When traveling, it's important to be aware of the etiquette of the culture you will be visiting.

    May 20, 2009