client
pronunciation
How to pronounce client in British English:
UK [ˈklaɪənt]
How to pronounce client in American English:
US [ˈklaɪənt]
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- Noun:
- a person who seeks the advice of a lawyer
- someone who pays for goods or services
- (computer science) any computer that is hooked up to a computer network
Word Origin
- client
- client: [14] The original status of a client was rather lowly: he was someone who was at another’s beck and call, and dependent on them. The word comes from Latin cliēns, an alteration of an earlier cluēns, the present participle of the verb cluēre ‘listen, follow, obey’; hence someone who was cliēns was always listening out for another’s orders, unable to take independent action (in ancient Rome it meant specifically a plebeian under the protection of a nobleman).That sense is preserved in such English expressions as ‘client state’. The word’s more modern senses have developed through ‘person on whose behalf a lawyer acts’ in the 15th century to simply ‘customer’ in the 17th century.
- client (n.)
- late 14c., from Anglo-French clyent (c. 1300), from Latin clientem (nominative cliens) "follower, retainer," perhaps a variant of present participle of cluere "listen, follow, obey" (see listen); or, more likely, from clinare "to incline, bend," from suffixed form of PIE root *klei- "to lean" (see lean (v.)). The ground sense apparently is of one who leans on another for protection. In ancient Rome, a plebian under protection of a patrician (called patronus in this relationship; see patron); in English originally "a lawyer's customer," by c. 1600 extended to any customer.
Example
- 1. The client was a wealthy man .
- 2. However , xpm is not hyper-v for the client .
- 3. The client sells very complex software programs and services .
- 4. His lawyer has claimed publicly that his client is insane .
- 5. He said that his client was now using a new e-mail address .