Etymograph

English

client

Client comes from Latin cliēns ‘customer’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcliēns‘customer’
  2. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400clyent
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500client
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1897same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcliēns‘customer’
  2. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400clyent
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500client
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1897same form

Earliest quotation: 1897, Winston Churchill: “I corralled the judge, and we started off across…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ḱlew- ‘to hear’

listen, loud, scout, linn, leer, shruti, lithe, umlaut, 14 more

Today it means

noun A customer, a buyer or receiver of goods or services.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Latin cliēns / client

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