Savoir-vivre
noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Familiarity with the customs of polite society. uncountable
"Like it or not, we are more invested in France, which has come to epitomise culture, good taste, style and savoir-vivre – even though that reverence is the product of ignorance as much as familiarity."
Example
More examples"Like it or not, we are more invested in France, which has come to epitomise culture, good taste, style and savoir-vivre – even though that reverence is the product of ignorance as much as familiarity."
Etymology
Borrowed from French savoir-vivre, a nominalization of the verb phrase savoir vivre "to know how to live."
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.