customer

English

Etymology

From Middle English customere, custommere, from Old French coustumier, costumier (compare modern French coutumier), from Medieval Latin custumarius (“a toll-gatherer, tax-collector”, noun), from custumarius (“pertaining to custom or customs”, adj), from custuma (“custom, tax”). More at custom.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkʌstəmə/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkʌstəmɚ/

Noun

customer (plural customers)

A patron, a client; one who purchases or receives a product or service from a business or merchant, or intends to do so.
Every person who passes by is a potential customer.
(informal) A person, especially one engaging in some sort of interaction with others.
a cool customer, a tough customer, an ugly customer
- 1971, Herman Wouk, chapter 52, in The Winds of War]:
  Pug could just see Slote's pale face under his fur hat. "I don't agree with you on that. He's a pretty tough customer, Hopkins."
- 2020 January 2, Philip Haigh, “Ten eventful years and plenty of talking points”, in Rail, page 54:
  This switch led to Philip Hammond becoming the Transport Secretary and he quickly proved to be a tricky customer, asking questions about rail spending and reining it back whenever possible.
(India, historical) A native official who exacted customs duties.
- 1609, Danvers, Letters, i. 25; and comp. Foster, ibid. ii. 225
  His houses […] are seized on by the Customer.
- 1615, Sir T. Roe, Hak. Soc. i. 44
  The Customer should come and visit them.
- 1682, Hedges, Diary [Hak. Soc. i. 33]
  The several affronts, insolences, and abuses dayly put upon us by Boolchund, our chief Customer

Derived terms

customer base
customer care
customer research
customer resistance
customer service
customer support
customer-to-customer
pure customer
the customer is always right

Related terms

Terms etymologically related to customer

consuetude
costumal
costume
custom
customary
customization
customize
customs

Translations

one who purchases or receives a product or service

Albanian: klient (sq) m
Arabic: زَبُون‎ m (zabūn), عَمِيل‎ m (ʿamīl)
Armenian: հաճախորդ (hy) (hačaxord)
Azerbaijani: müştəri (az)
Basque: bezero
Belarusian: кліе́нт m (klijént), кліе́нтка f (klijéntka), зака́зчык m (zakázčyk), зака́зчыца f (zakázčyca)
Bengali: খরিদ্দার (khôriddar)
Bulgarian: клие́нт (bg) m (kliént), клие́нтка f (kliéntka), мющери́я (bg) m (mjušteríja), мющери́йка f (mjušteríjka), купува́ч m (kupuváč), купува́чка f (kupuváčka)
Burmese: ဈေးဝယ် (my) (jhe:wai), ဖောက်သည် (my) (hpauksany), ဝယ်သူ (waisu)
Catalan: client (ca) m or f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 顧客／顾客 (zh) (gùkè), 主顧／主顾 (zh) (zhǔgù)
Czech: klient (cs) m, klientka m, zákazník (cs) m, zákaznice f
Danish: kunde (da) c
Dutch: klant (nl) m
Esperanto: kliento
Estonian: klient (et)
Faroese: kundi m
Finnish: asiakas (fi)
French: client (fr) m, cliente (fr) f
Galician: cliente (gl) m
Georgian: მყიდველი (mq̇idveli), კლიენტი (ḳlienṭi)
German: Kunde (de) m, Abnehmer (de) m, Käufer (de) m
Greek: πελάτης (el) m (pelátis), πελάτισσα (el) f (pelátissa)
Ancient: ὠνητής m (ōnētḗs)
Hebrew: לָקוֹחַ‎ (he) m (lakóakh), לקוחה‎ f (lakokha)
Hindi: ग्राहक (hi) m (grāhak)
Hungarian: vevő (hu), ügyfél (hu)
Icelandic: viðskiptavinur m, kaupandi m, skiptavinur m (dated), kúnni m
Ido: kliento (io)
Irish: custaiméir m
Italian: cliente (it) m or f
Japanese: 客 (ja) (きゃく, kyaku), (honorific) お客さん (おきゃくさん, o-kyaku-san), 顧客 (ja) (こきゃく, kokyaku)
Kazakh: клиент (klient)
Khmer: អតិថិជន (ʼaʼtethecŭən)
Korean: 손님 (ko) (sonnim), 손 (ko) (son), 객(客) (ko) (gaek), 고객(顧客) (ko) (gogaek), 고객님 (gogaengnim) (honorific)
Kyrgyz: клиент (kliyent)
Lao: ລູກຄ້າ (lo) (lūk khā)
Latin: ēmptor (la) m
Latvian: klients m
Lithuanian: klientas (lt) m
Macedonian: купувач m (kupuvač), купувачка f (kupuvačka), муштерија m (mušterija), муштерика f (mušterika), клие́нт m (kliént), клие́нтка f (kliéntka)
Malay: pelanggan (ms)
Maltese: please add this translation if you can
Maori: apataki, kiritaki
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: үйлчлүүлэгч (mn) (üjlčlüülegč)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: kunde (no) m
Occitan: client (oc) m
Old English: please add this translation if you can
Pashto: مشتري‎ m (moštari)
Persian: مشتری‎ (fa) (moštari)
Polish: klient (pl) m, klientka (pl) f
Portuguese: freguês (pt) m, freguesa f, cliente (pt) m or f
Romanian: client (ro) m, clientă (ro) f, mușteriu (ro) m
Russian: клие́нт (ru) m (klijént), клие́нтка (ru) f (klijéntka), зака́зчик (ru) m (zakázčik), зака́зчица (ru) f (zakázčica) (one who makes orders), покупа́тель (ru) m (pokupátelʹ), покупа́тельница (ru) f (pokupátelʹnica)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: ку́пац m, муштѐрија m, куповац m, клѝјент m, клѝјентица f
Roman: kúpac (sh) m, muštèrija (sh) m, kupovac m, klìjent (sh) m, klìjentica (sh) f
Slovak: klient m, klientka f, zákazník m, zákazníčka f
Slovene: odjemalec m, odjemalka f
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: kupowaŕ m, kupc m, kupowarka f
Spanish: cliente (es) m or f
Swahili: mteja (sw) class 1/2, wateja (sw) pl
Swedish: kund (sv) c
Tajik: муштарӣ (muštarī), мизоҷ (mizoj)
Thai: ลูกค้า (th) (lûuk-káa)
Turkish: müşteri (tr), alıcı (tr)
Turkmen: müşderi
Ukrainian: кліє́нт (uk) m (klijént), кліє́нтка f (klijéntka), замо́вник m (zamóvnyk), замо́вниця f (zamóvnycja), покупе́ць m (pokupécʹ)
Urdu: مُشْتَری‎ m (muśtarī)
Uzbek: mijoz (uz), mushtariy (uz)
Vietnamese: khách hàng (vi)
Welsh: cwsmer (cy) m
Yiddish: קליענט‎ m (klient)

Anagrams

costumer