Etymograph

English

client

Client comes from Latin cliēns ‘customer’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcliēns1‘customer’
  2. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400clyent1
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500client1
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1897client1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English client
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1897, Winston Churchill: “I corralled the judge, and we started off across…”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcliēnsWiktionary, English client‘customer’
  2. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400clyentWiktionary, English client
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500clientWiktionary, English client
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1897clientWiktionary, English client. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 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, 13 more

Today it means

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

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “client”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Latin cliēns / client

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