etiquette Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun rules governing socially acceptable behavior

WordNet

Et"i*quette` noun
Etymology
F. prop., a little piece of paper, or a mark or title, affixed to a bag or bundle, expressing its contents, a label, ticket, OF.estiquete, of German origin; cf. LG. stikke peg, pin, tack, stikken to stick, G. stecken. See Stick, and cf. Ticket.
Definitions
  1. 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.
    The pompous etiquette to the court of Louis the Fourteenth. Prescott.

Webster 1913