Politeness is careful good manners towards others. Common politeness, out of politeness, a show of politeness.
What counts as it differs enormously between cultures, and the mismatch is a standing source of offence: directness is honest in some places and rude in others. Linguists treat politeness as a system for managing the risk of imposing on somebody.
1nounpolitenessCareful good manners towards others.
“She laughed at his joke out of politeness, not because it was funny.”
politeness is a manner.
Proto-Indo-European
*pel- (beat)
Latin
polītus — polished
English
polite
English, today
politeness
Built from
From polite + -ness. polite comes from Latin polītus (“polished”), past participle of poliō (“to polish, smooth”); see polish.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA