customer
/ˈkɐs.tə.mə/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.61 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A habitual patron, regular purchaser, returning client; a person or company who has a custom of buying from a particular business.
Obsolete
Example Sentences
- "Every person who passes by is a potential customer."
- "Airlines are the chief customers of the commercial divisions of large-aircraft manufacturers such as Airbus, Boeing, and Embraer."
- "a cool customer, a tough customer, an ugly customer"
- "Pug could just see Slote's pale face under his fur hat. "I don't agree with you on that. He's a pretty tough customer, Hopkins.""
- "This switch led to Philip Hammond becoming the Transport Secretary and he quickly proved to be a tricky customer, asking questions about rail spending and reining it back whenever possible."
- "His houses […] are seized on by the Customer."
Etymology
From Middle English custumer, from Old French coustumier, costumier (compare modern French coutumier), from Medieval Latin custumarius (“a toll-gatherer, tax-collector”, noun), from custumarius (“pertaining to custom or customs”, adjective), from custuma (“custom, tax”). More at custom. By surface analysis, custom + -er.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: custumer, coustumier, custumarius
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈkɐs.tə.mə/
- British English: /ˈkʌs.tə.mə/