[et-i-kit, -ket] 
| 1. | conventional requirements as to social behavior; proprieties of conduct as established in any class or community or for any occasion. |
| 2. | a prescribed or accepted code of usage in matters of ceremony, as at a court or in official or other formal observances. |
| 3. | the code of ethical behavior regarding professional practice or action among the members of a profession in their dealings with each other: medical etiquette. |
| et·i·quette (ět'ĭ-kět', -kĭt) n. The practices and forms prescribed by social convention or by authority. [French, from Old French estiquet, label; see ticket.] |
etiquette
system of rules and conventions that regulate social and professional behaviour. In any social unit there are accepted rules of behaviour upheld and enforced by legal codes; there are also norms of behaviour mandated by custom and enforced by group pressure. An offender faces no formal trial or sentence for breach of etiquette; the penalty lies in the disapproval of other members of the group. Regardless of its level of material culture, any highly stratified society will possess an etiquette in which every person knows the behaviour expected from him toward others and from others toward himself.
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