The act of making a respectful curtsy greeting, used in present continuous tense.
Present participle of 'curtsy,' formed by adding -ing. The base word 'curtsy' derives from 'courtesy,' the noun, which became a verb describing the physical gesture of showing respect.
The -ing form of 'curtsy' is tricky because the original word had different spellings—some people wrote 'curtseying' and some 'curtsying,' and both were considered correct for a long time!
Curtseying emerged as a gendered gesture of submission in feudal and court societies, required of women to signify subordination. Men were not expected to perform this gesture, embedding gender hierarchy into physical performance.
Use 'bowing' as the gender-neutral equivalent. When curtseying appears in historical or cultural contexts, note its gendered history explicitly.
["bowing","paying respects","showing deference"]
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