Etymologically
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client

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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

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