accustom

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English acustomen, also acustumen,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman acustumer, also acostumer,^[4][2][5][6] or Middle French acostumer,^[3][4] now French accoutumer,^[4][7][6] formed from a- (“to”), from Latin ad-, and costume (“custom, habit”).^[2][8][6] The Anglo-Norman verb is recorded from 1120–40,^[9] and the OED dates the transitive use in Old French to 1160.^[4] It has parallels in Old Occitan acostumar, Catalan acostumar, Spanish acostumbrar, Portuguese acostumar and Italian accostumare.^[4] The noun custom goes back to Latin consuētūdō (“habit, usage”), from consuēscō (“to accustom”), formed from an intensive com- and suēscō (“to become used to”).^[7][10] The spelling with “acc-” was refashioned in the 15th century after Latin, in English and in French alike.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To make a person or thing familiar with something, chiefly in the passive at first: 1422, in the Proceedings of the Privy Council.^[4][3] Etymonline dates it to the early 15th century, and Merriam-Webster gives to habituate, reflexive or intransitive, as the Middle English sense.^[7][2]

Semantic evolution

Anglo-Norman and Old French already had the main senses of making or being used to something.^[4][9] The reflexive use appears about 1450, and an intransitive use, to be in the habit of doing, about 1475.^[4] Beside these, in the 15th century, ran a sense now lost: to make something usual, or practise it habitually, from 1439–40 to 1768,^[4][5] as in Marlowe's As parting friends accustom on the shore.^[5] Intransitively it also meant to go regularly to a place or to consort with someone, from about 1475 to 1670,^[4][5] and transitively to frequent, especially as a customer, from 1690 to 1852.^[4] Johnson's 1773 edition marks the intransitive use as obsolete, quoting Carew,^[11] and his 1755 entry says that the verb, with to, is used chiefly of persons.^[11] The transitive use with to is the one current today.^[2][8] A noun accustom, custom or habit, lasted from about 1440 to 1645.^[4][5]

Timeline

• 1422 – to make familiar with or used to something.^[4][3]
• 1439–40 – to make something usual, to practise it habitually (obsolete by 1768).^[4]
• c. 1440 – noun, custom, habit (obsolete by 1645).^[4]
• c. 1450 – reflexive, to make oneself used to something.^[4]
• c. 1475 – intransitive, to be in the habit of doing something.^[4]
• c. 1475 – intransitive, to go regularly to a place, to consort with (obsolete by 1670).^[4]
• 1690 – to use regularly, to frequent as a customer (obsolete by 1852).^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make a person or thing familiar with or used to something through use or experience, usually with to: Years at sea accustomed him to rough weather.^[2][12][8]
2. Reflexively, to get oneself used to something: She slowly accustomed herself to the noise of the city.^[12][5][4]
3. be accustomed to: to be used to something: We are accustomed to early starts.^[8][4]
4. (rare) To be in the habit of doing something.^[4][11]
5. (obsolete, 1439–1768) To make something usual; to practise it habitually.^[4][5]
6. (obsolete, c. 1475–1670) To go regularly to a place; to consort with someone.^[4][5]

Noun

1. (obsolete, c. 1440–1645) Custom, habit.^[4][5]

Word family

• accustomation
• disaccustom
• reaccustom
• unaccustom

Related words

• custom
• customary
• costume
• consuetude

Usage notes

The OED notes a form of the past participle without its ending in to be accustomed to, as are accustom to, in a quotation from 1982.^[4]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins