client

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈklaɪ.ənt/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English client, borrowed from Anglo-Norman clyent (1306),^[2][3] and directly borrowed from Latin cliēns (“follower, retainer, dependant”).^[3][2][4] The Latin word is usually explained as “one who leans on another”, related to clīnāre “to bend, incline”,^[3][2][4] from Proto-Indo-European *klei- (“to lean”).^[3] Hoad and the NODE instead take it as a variant of cluēns, the present participle of cluēre “to hear, obey”.^[5][6] It is related to clientele and possibly to lean and incline.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

One under the protection or patronage of another, a dependant: 1393 in the OED,^[7] the late 14th century in Etymonline.^[3] A lawyer's client is probably before 1387 in Barnhart, in Piers Plowman,^[2] and 1413 in the OED.^[7]

Semantic evolution

In ancient Rome a client was a plebeian under the protection of a patrician, his patronus;^[3][7] in medieval English the word reflected the feudal hierarchy of dependants.^[8] The lawyer's client came from French use.^[8] From about 1600 the word was extended to anyone who employs a professional or business person, a customer (1608, in Shakespeare's Pericles).^[2][3][7] A person helped by a social worker is from 1925,^[7] and a client state, dependent on a larger power, from 1919.^[7] In computing, a client is a program or machine that receives services from a server.^[9]

Timeline

• a. 1387 – one who engages a lawyer.^[2]
• 1393 – a dependant under a patron.^[7]
• 1557 – a Roman plebeian under a patrician.^[7]
• 1608 – a customer of any professional.^[2][7]
• 1919 – client state.^[7]
• 1925 – a person helped by a social worker.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A person or organization that uses the services of a lawyer or other professional.
2. A customer.
3. A person helped by a social worker or agency.
4. (computing) A program or computer that obtains services from a server.
5. (historical) A dependant under the protection of a patron.

Word family

• clientage
• cliental
• clientless
• nonclient
• client state

Related words

• clientele
• climate
• cline
• incline
• lean

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins