Courteous means politely respectful, in a slightly formal way. A courteous reply, courteous to everybody, courteous but firm.
It is warmer than correct and cooler than friendly, and it suggests manners maintained regardless of feeling. Courteous and firm is a standard formula in complaint handling. Note courtesy, the noun; discourteous, which is a mild but real reproach; and that courteous comes from the manners expected at a royal court, which is also where courtly, courtesy and courtship come from.
1adjectivecourteousPolitely respectful.
“The reply was courteous and completely unhelpful.”
courteous is a quality of politeness.
Old French curteis means having courtly manners, from cort, a court. The whole English vocabulary of politeness comes from the behaviour expected around a king, which is why it can still sound faintly performative.
Old French
curteis
Middle English
curteis
English, today
courteous
Built from
From Middle English curteis, from Old French curteis (French courtois), from cort (“court”). by surface analysis, court + -eous. Compare typologically zdvořilý (<~ dvůr), höflich (<~ Hof). Also note прийти́сь ко двору́. Compare typologically civil, urbane. See pagan for the opposite.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA