custom
pronunciation
How to pronounce custom in British English:
UK [ˈkʌstəm]
How to pronounce custom in American English:
US [ˈkʌstəm]
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- Noun:
- accepted or habitual practice
- a specific practice of long standing
- money collected under a tariff
- habitual patronage
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- Adjective:
- made according to the specifications of an individual
Word Origin
- custom
- custom: [12] Custom comes ultimately from Latin consuēscere, a compound verb formed from the intensive prefix com- and suēscere ‘become accustomed’. This in turn was derived from suī, the genitive singular of the reflexive pronoun suus ‘oneself’; the notion underlying its formation was therefore ‘that which is one’s own’, a semantic element echoed in Greek ethos ‘custom, usage, trait’, which was based ultimately on Indo-European *swe- ‘oneself’.From consuēscere was formed the Latin noun consuētūdō ‘being accustomed’ (source of the English legal noun consuetude ‘custom’ [14]). This passed into early Old French as *costudne, which developed via *costumne to custome, the form borrowed into Middle English (English costume came from the same ultimate source, but via Italian costume).The word’s original sense, ‘habitual practice’, developed various secondary associations, including ‘customary tax’ (whence customs duties) and ‘customary business patronage’ (whence customer). The derivative accustom [15] was borrowed from Anglo-Norman acustumer.=> accustom, costume
- custom (n.)
- c. 1200, "habitual practice," from Old French costume "custom, habit, practice; clothes, dress" (12c., Modern French coutume), from Vulgar Latin *consuetumen, from Latin consuetudinem (nominative consuetudo) "habit, usage, way, practice, tradition, familiarity," from consuetus, past participle of consuescere "accustom," from com-, intensive prefix (see com-), + suescere "become used to, accustom oneself," related to sui, genitive of suus "oneself," from PIE *swe- "oneself" (see idiom). Replaced Old English þeaw. Sense of a "regular" toll or tax on goods is early 14c. The native word here is toll.
- custom (adj.)
- "made to measure or order," c. 1830, from custom (n.).
Example
- 1. Custom and religion limit the use of cremation in many places .
- 2. Tools like google 's custom search give you them from the start .
- 3. It is our established custom ; but there is another reason besides .
- 4. Foreigners were happy to accept , because foreigners themselves ran the custom house .
- 5. Never stick them upright into your bowl of rice or other food as this is an old japanese custom for offering food , especially rice , to the dead .