Etymograph

English

customer

Customer comes from Middle English custumer ‘customs officer’, from Old French coustumier, from Medieval Latin custumarius ‘toll-gatherer’, from custuma ‘custom, tax’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcustuma1‘custom, tax’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcustumarius1‘pertaining to custom or customs’
  3. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500custumarius1‘a toll-gatherer’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400coustumier1
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500custumer1‘a customs officer’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1609customer1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English customer
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1609, Danvers, Letters: “His houses […] are seized on by the Customer.”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcustumaWiktionary, English customer‘custom, tax’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcustumariusWiktionary, English customer‘pertaining to custom or customs’
  3. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500custumariusWiktionary, English customer‘a toll-gatherer’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400coustumierWiktionary, English customer
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500custumerWiktionary, English customer‘a customs officer’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1609customerWiktionary, English customer. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1609, Danvers, Letters: “His houses […] are seized on by the Customer.”

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Today it means

noun A habitual patron, regular purchaser, returning client; a person or company who has a custom of buying from a particular business.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “customer”. 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 custuma / customer