customer English · revision 4341

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1440|origins=la consuetudo}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /ˈkʌs.tə.mə/, US /ˈkʌs.tə.mɚ/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|custumer]], costomer,^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) [[bor|xno|custumer]], Old French coustumier,^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002) from [[la-med|custumārius|t=toll-gatherer, tax collector]],^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002) literally “pertaining to custom or customs”, a contraction of Latin consuetudinarius, from consuetudo “habit, usage, practice”,^(Etymonline) the source of [[custom]].^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) In some senses it was formed again in English from custom and -er.^(SOED 2002)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A customs official, a toll-gatherer: the late 14th century in Etymonline,^(Etymonline) 1448 in the OED.^(OED 1989) The OED's first sense, about 1440, is a person who holds land by long custom.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ “One who buys goods, especially one who customarily buys from the same tradesman” is from about 1400 in Etymonline^(Etymonline) and about 1480 in the OED.^(OED 1989) Trench notes that two or three centuries before his time a customer was a collector of customs, as in Coverdale's “Levi the customer” for the tax collector of the Gospels.^(Trench 1859) The wider “person with whom one has dealings” is from the 1540s,^(Etymonline) 1548 in the OED,^(OED 1989) and the colloquial “person to deal with”, with an adjective as in ''an ugly customer'', from the 1580s.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) In Shakespeare it can also mean a prostitute.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) In Scotland the customer was the lessee of a burgh's customs and dues.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * late 14th century – a customs official.^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1400 – a regular buyer.^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1440 – one holding by custom.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1548 – a person one deals with.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1580s – ''an ugly customer''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1601 – a prostitute.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A person who buys [[goods]] or [[service]]s, especially regularly from the same seller.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # ''(informal)'' A person one has to deal with: ''a tough customer''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ugly customer]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[consuetude]]

+ * [[costume]]

+ * [[custom]]

+ * [[customary]]

+ * [[customize]]

+ * [[customs]]

+ * [[accustom]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}