Customer

How to spell customer

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce customer

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does customer mean?

1. nounA person or organisation that buys goods or services from a shop or business.

Customer in a sentence

• The shop refunded the customer without any argument.

• Every customer who joined the loyalty scheme received a discount.

Where does customer come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word goes back to the Latin consuetudo, meaning 'habit' or 'usual practice', which came from consuescere, 'to grow accustomed to'. From Latin it passed into Old French as costume and coustume, carrying the sense of an established custom or habitual dealing. English took up 'custom' in the medieval period, and by the 1400s a 'customer' was someone who regularly resorted to a particular shop or trader, that is, one who gave their custom to a seller. So the spelling preserves the older noun 'custom' plus the agent ending '-er', which is a handy reminder that a customer is literally a person who brings their custom. Interestingly, in earlier centuries 'customer' could also mean a customs officer who collected duties, sharing the same root of habitual or regular charges.

How the word is built

• custom (habitual practice, regular dealing)
• -er (agent noun suffix: one who does)