Etymologically
Log in

consumer

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 23:25. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /kənˈsjuː.mə/, US /kənˈsuː.mɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is an agent noun formed from consume and the suffix -er.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

One who squanders or wastes: the early 15th century in Etymonline,[2] late Middle English in SOED, also one who destroys or uses up,[3] 1535 in the OED.[4]

Semantic evolution

In economics, one who uses up goods and so destroys their exchangeable value, the opposite of producer, is from 1745,[2][4] the late 17th century in SOED.[3] In general use, a purchaser of goods or services, a customer, is from 1897.[4] Consumer goods is attested from 1890,[2] and consumers' credit from 1888.[4] In the United States a consumer price index has been calculated since 1919, abbreviated CPI by 1971.[2] In ecology a consumer is an organism that feeds on other organisms in a food chain.[5]

Timeline

  • early 15th century – a waster.[2]
  • 1745 – in economics.[2][4]
  • 1888 – consumers' credit.[4]
  • 1890 – consumer goods.[2]
  • 1897 – a customer.[4]
  • 1919 – the consumer price index.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A person who buys goods or services for personal use rather than for resale or manufacture.
  2. A person or thing that uses something up.
  3. (ecology) An organism that feeds on other organisms or organic matter in a food chain.

Word family

  • consumership
  • consumerize
  • nonconsumer
  • postconsumer
  • preconsumer
  • anticonsumer
  • consumerism
  • consumerist
  • consumption
  • consume
  • sumptuous

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 i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  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 Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin