When the weather turned cold, the tears that he shed would become frozen like veins; the blood on his forehead from kowtowing would also freeze and would not drip.
Source: wiktionary
Kowtow
//ˈkaʊˌtaʊ//
Synonyms for "kowtow" (102 found)
Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Closest matches (21)
Strong matches (30)
Related words (51)
Related word relations
OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.
Translations
125 translations across 29 languages.
Arabic
3 entries- تَمَلَّقَ verb (kneel such that forehead touches ground)
- رَكَعَ verb (kneel such that forehead touches ground)
- سَجَدَ verb (kneel such that forehead touches ground)
Catalan
3 entries- prosternar-se verb (kneel such that forehead touches ground)
- prostrar-se verb (bow deeply)
- sotmetre's verb (act submissively)
Chinese
2 entries- 叩頭 /叩头 verb (kneel such that forehead touches ground)
- 磕頭 /磕头 verb (kneel such that forehead touches ground)
Chinese Cantonese
2 entries- 叩頭 /叩头 noun (kowtowing)
- 叩頭 /叩头 verb (kneel such that forehead touches ground)
Chinese Mandarin
4 entries- 叩頭 /叩头 noun (kowtowing)
- 磕頭 /磕头 noun (kowtowing)
- 叩頭 /叩头 verb (kneel such that forehead touches ground)
- 磕頭 /磕头 verb (kneel such that forehead touches ground)
Czech
2 entries- klanět se až k zemi verb (kneel such that forehead touches ground)
- poklonkovat verb (act submissively)
Danish
4 entries- koutou noun (kowtowing)
- kowtow noun (kowtowing)
- føje verb (act submissively)
- give efter verb (act submissively)
Dutch
4 entries- buiging noun (kowtowing)
- kotau noun (kowtowing)
- knielen verb (kneel such that forehead touches ground)
- onderdanig zijn verb (act submissively)
Esperanto
1 entries- kliniĝi verb (act submissively)
Finnish
4 entries- kowtow-kumarrus noun (kowtowing)
- kumarrella verb (act submissively)
- kumartaa syvään verb (bow deeply)
- nöyristellä verb (act submissively)
French
3 entries- kowtow noun (kowtowing)
- s'agenouiller verb (kneel such that forehead touches ground)
- se prosterner verb (kneel such that forehead touches ground)
Georgian
3 entries- ქედმოხრა verb (kneel such that forehead touches ground)
- ქედმოხრა verb (bow deeply)
- ქედმოხრა verb (act submissively)
German
4 entries- Kotau noun (kowtowing)
- den Kotau machen verb (act submissively)
- dienern verb (act submissively)
- einen Kotau machen verb (kneel such that forehead touches ground)
Hebrew
3 entries- השתעבד verb (act submissively)
- התחנף verb (act submissively)
- התרפס verb (act submissively)
Hungarian
4 entries- alázatoskodik verb (act submissively)
- csúszik-mászik verb (act submissively)
- földre borul verb (kneel such that forehead touches ground)
- hajbókol verb (act submissively)
Japanese
4 entries- 叩頭 noun (kowtowing)
- 土下座 noun (kowtowing)
- 叩頭く verb (kneel such that forehead touches ground)
- 土下座をする verb (kneel such that forehead touches ground)
Korean
3 entries- 고두 noun (kowtowing)
- 고두(叩頭)하다 verb (kneel such that forehead touches ground)
- 머리를 조아리다 verb (kneel such that forehead touches ground)
Norwegian
1 entries- kowtow noun (kowtowing)
Norwegian Bokmål
4 entries- føye seg verb (act submissively)
- gi etter verb (act submissively)
- gjøre knefall verb (kneel such that forehead touches ground)
- knele verb (kneel such that forehead touches ground)
Polish
1 entries- kłaniać się verb (act submissively)
Portuguese
4 entries- kowtow noun (kowtowing)
- fazer o kowtow verb (kneel such that forehead touches ground)
- prostrar-se verb (bow deeply)
- reverenciar verb (kneel such that forehead touches ground)
Romanian
2 entries- căciuli verb (act submissively)
- ploconi verb (act submissively)
Russian
4 entries- коуто́у noun (kowtowing)
- покло́н noun (kowtowing)
- де́лать коуто́у verb (kneel such that forehead touches ground)
- де́лать ни́зкий покло́н verb (bow deeply)
Serbo-Croatian
4 entries- klanjati se do zemlje verb (kneel such that forehead touches ground)
- klanjati se do zemlje verb (bow deeply)
- klanjati se do zemlje verb (act submissively)
- metanisati verb (kneel such that forehead touches ground)
Spanish
3 entries- postración noun (kowtowing)
- postrarse verb (kneel such that forehead touches ground)
- prostrarse (disused) verb (kneel such that forehead touches ground)
Swedish
1 entries- koutou noun (kowtowing)
Ukrainian
4 entries- коутоу noun (kowtowing)
- уклін noun (kowtowing)
- чолобитна noun (kowtowing)
- чолобиття noun (kowtowing)
Vietnamese
4 entries- khấu đầu noun (kowtowing)
- sự khúm núm noun (kowtowing)
- sự quỳ lạy noun (kowtowing)
- khúm núm verb (kneel such that forehead touches ground)
Welsh
4 entries- cow-tow noun (kowtowing)
- moesymgrymiad noun (kowtowing)
- ymgreiniad noun (kowtowing)
- cowtowio verb (kneel such that forehead touches ground)
Sample sentences
4 total sentences available.
I suppose you're going to be nice to Odie and kowtow to Jon and lick the mailman's boots! I don't like you already.
Source: wiktionary
The letter to Razin contained another thought that preoccupied Stalin in the first months after the war: the need to avoid “kowtowing to the West,” including showing “unwarranted respect” for the “military authorities of Germany.”
Source: wiktionary
Three elders dressed in their long silk ceremonial gowns perform the kowtow before the altar in their clan ancestral hall.
Source: wiktionary
Keep exploring
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.