accustomed

Etymology

It is formed from English accustom + -ed,^[2][3][4] the past participle of that verb used as an adjective,^[4][5] and Merriam-Webster gives the Middle English form acustumed (“customary, used to”).^[5] The OED compares Anglo-Norman acustumé, Middle French accoustumé and French accoutumé.^[2] The verb, Middle English accustomen,^[6] is from Old French acostumer,^[7][4][8][9] also acustumer,^[10][5] recorded in Anglo-Norman from 1120–40.^[11] It is made of a- (“to”), from Latin ad-, and costume (“habit, practice”),^[7][4][9] the source of custom.^[7][4] Barnhart notes that in the 1400s the English and French forms were refashioned to match Latin spelling, with the prefix spelled ac-.^[12] Ayto traces custom through early French to Latin consuētūdō (“being accustomed”), from consuēscō (“to become accustomed”), itself from com- and suēscō (“to become accustomed”).^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Customary, habitual, usual: 1429–30, in the Rolls of Parliament.^[2] Dictionary.com has 1400–50 and Merriam-Webster the 15th century,^[14][5] while Etymonline dates it to the late 15th century.^[4] Barnhart finds the verb accustom in 1422.^[12]

Semantic evolution

The adjective first described things made customary,^[2][4] and by 1484, in Caxton's translation of the Fables of Esope, it could describe a person in the habit of doing something or used to something.^[2] This use is now chiefly predicative, with to, especially in grow accustomed to and become accustomed to.^[2] Johnson (1755) gave only "according to custom; frequent; usual", quoting Macbeth.^[15] From 1690 to 1880 the word also meant "frequented by customers", usually with an adverb, as in Smollett's "a well accustomed shop".^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1429–30 – customary, habitual, usual.^[2]
• 1484 – of a person, in the habit of doing something; used to something.^[2]
• 1690 – frequented by customers (obsolete by 1880).^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Usual or habitual; customary: He took his accustomed seat by the window.^[16][5][2]
2. Used to something, familiar with it through experience, followed by to: Her eyes soon grew accustomed to the dim light.^[16][5][2]
3. In the habit of doing something, followed by to: She was accustomed to rising before dawn.^[16][5][2]
4. (obsolete, 1690–1880) Frequented by customers.^[2][3][5]

Word family

• accustomedness
• accustomedly
• unaccustomed

Related words

• accustom
• custom
• customary
• costume
• consuetude

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
7. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
12. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
13. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
14. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins