What does bootlicking mean?
Bootlicking refers to excessive, servile flattery directed at someone in power, usually in the hope of gaining favor, promotion, or protection. The term derives from the vivid metaphor of literally licking a master's boots, an image that has made the word reliably contemptuous since it emerged in seventeenth-century English. It functions chiefly as an uncountable noun — one might accuse a colleague of 'shameless bootlicking' — but also appears attributively as an adjective describing fawning conduct. Bootlicking carries a strongly negative connotation across British and American usage, implying both insincerity and a loss of dignity, and it sits at the informal end of the register, making it unsuited to formal writing though common in workplace gossip, political satire, and everyday complaint about sycophants. Its close relatives include bootlicker, for the person who behaves this way.
Excessive, servile flattery of a powerful person in order to gain favor; obsequious behavior toward a superior.
"The office ran on bootlicking rather than merit."
Usually uncountable; informal and strongly derogatory.
Characterized by or given to servile flattery; fawningly obsequious.
"He wrote a bootlicking memo praising every decision the director had made that year."
Almost always attributive and disparaging.
The image behind the word is exactly what it sounds like — a sycophant figuratively licking the boots of the powerful — and English speakers have found it suitably contemptible ever since the phrase first appeared in the 1600s.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of bootlicking
Bootlicking comes from the verb 'bootlick,' a compound of 'boot' and 'lick' that arose in English in the seventeenth century as a literal image of groveling before a master. The verb was soon used figuratively for servile flattery, and its gerund came to denote the behavior itself. The compound is native to English rather than borrowed from Latin or Greek, so it has no classical cognates, though many languages have their own equivalent metaphors of groveling before the feet of the powerful.
Related word forms
How bootlicking is actually used
Informal to mildly vulgar in register; strongly derogatory connotation, so it should be avoided in polite praise. Common in workplace and political commentary.
Easily confused with bootlicking
Bootlegging means the illegal manufacture or distribution of goods such as alcohol, whereas bootlicking means servile flattery of a superior.