Etymologically
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subscriber

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 15:30. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • US: /səbˈskɹaɪbɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English subscribe + -er.[2][3][4][5] The verb is from Latin subscrībō (“to write underneath, sign one's name”),[5][6] from sub- (“under”) and scrībō (“to write”).[5][6] English had the slightly earlier subscriver (1562–1738), formed from subscrive, in the same senses.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who signs his or her name to a document or letter; a signatory: 1574, in the Brieff Discours of the troubles at Frankfurt.[2] Etymonline and Dictionary.com date the word to the 1590s.[5][4]

Semantic evolution

Signing one's name implied assent, so from 1653 a subscriber (to) was also someone who agreed with or supported an opinion or policy.[2] From 1671 it was a person who pledged money to a company or a cause,[2][3] and after 1725 also one who paid regularly to receive a periodical or belong to a society.[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as one who subscribes and one who contributes to an undertaking.[7] The Bell Telephone Company used it of customers who paid for a telephone line by 1878,[5] and the OED records it from 1981 for people who join an electronic newsgroup or mailing list.[2] In the New York Stock Exchange a subscriber was a non-member who paid for access to part of the Exchange, a sense recorded from 1865.[2] The writer of a letter to the editor could refer to himself as the subscriber, and this became a colloquial way of saying I.[5]

Timeline

  • 1574 – a person who signs a document; a signatory.[2]
  • 1590s – first record according to Etymonline and Dictionary.com.[5][4]
  • 1653 – an adherent or supporter of an opinion.[2]
  • 1671 – a person who pledges money to a company or cause.[2]
  • 1725 – a person who pays for a periodical or membership.[2]
  • 1865 – a paying non-member of the New York Stock Exchange.[2]
  • 1878 – a telephone customer.[5]
  • 1981 – a member of an electronic newsgroup or mailing list.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A person who pays regularly to receive a periodical, belong to a society or use a service: The magazine lost half its subscribers in a year.[2][8][3]
  2. A customer of a telephone, internet or similar service; also, a person who signs up to a mailing list or an online channel.[8][2]
  3. A person who signs a document; a signatory.[8][2][3][7]
  4. A person who agrees with or supports an opinion or cause; an adherent.[8][2][3]
  5. A person who pledges money to a fund or undertaking; a contributor.[8][2][7]

Word family

  • nonsubscriber

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 o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e 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 Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster