client

See also: cliënt

English

Etymology

From Middle English client, from Anglo-Norman clyent, Old French client, from Latin cliēns, akin to clinare (“to lean”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈklaɪ.ənt/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Hyphenation: cli‧ent
  • Rhymes: -aɪənt

Noun

client (plural clients)

  1. A customer, a buyer or receiver of goods or services.
    Synonyms: buyer, customer, patron, purchaser
  2. (computing) The role of a computer application or system that requests and/or consumes the services provided by another having the role of server.
    Antonym: server
  3. A person who receives help or services from a professional such as a lawyer or accountant.
    • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
      I corralled the judge, and we started off across the fields […] . And thus we came by a circuitous route to Mohair, […] . My client welcomed the judge […] and they disappeared together into the Ethiopian card-room, which was filled with the assegais and exclamation point shields Mr. Cooke had had made at the sawmill at Beaverton.
  4. (law) A person who employs or retains an attorney to represent him or her in any legal matter, or one who merely divulges confidential matters to an attorney while pursuing professional assistance without subsequently retaining the attorney.
  5. (historical) In ancient Rome, retainers and followers associated with a gens.
    • 1945, E[lizabeth] G[idley] Withycombe, “Introduction”, in The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page xv:
      The nomen belonged to all members of a gens and to all those attached to it (women, clients, and freedmen included).
  6. (international relations) Ellipsis of client state.
    • 1989, Edward A. Kolodziej, Roger E. Kanet, Limits of Soviet Power, page 95:
      A third preliminary comment deals explicitly with the relations between clients and superpowers.
    • 2026 June 14, Simon Tisdall, “Russia is losing the war in Ukraine, and Putin is desperate. But that’s when he’s at his most dangerous”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 24 October 2026:
      Russia’s leader is a conservative, old-school thug. He thinks Russia is still a superpower, not what he’s made it: a despised rogue state and Chinese client.

Hyponyms

Hyponyms of client (computing)

Holonyms

Derived terms

Compound words
Expressions

Descendants

  • → Dutch: client
  • → German: Client
  • → Indonesian: klien, kelayan (calque)
  • → Japanese: クライアント (kuraianto)
  • → Malay: klien

Translations

See also

Further reading

Anagrams

Catalan

Etymology

    Learned borrowing from Latin clientem.

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    client m (plural clients, feminine clienta, feminine plural clientes)

    1. client, customer

    Further reading

    Dutch

    Etymology

    Borrowed from English client.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /ˈklɑi̯.ənt/
    • Hyphenation: cli‧ent

    Noun

    client m (plural clients, no diminutive)

    1. (computing) client
      De client communiceert met de server om gegevens op te halen.
      The client communicates with the server to retrieve data.
      De gebruikersinterface van de client is eenvoudig en gebruiksvriendelijk.
      The user interface of the client is simple and user-friendly.
      De software moet zowel op de server als op de client worden geïnstalleerd.
      The software needs to be installed on both the server and the client.

    Usage notes

    Not to be confused with cliënt.

    French

    Etymology

      Learned borrowing from Latin cliēns.

      Pronunciation

      Noun

      client m (plural clients, feminine cliente)

      1. (historical, Ancient Rome) client, retainer, follower (person who is under the patronage of someone else)
        Coordinate term: patron
        État client ― vassal state, client state
      2. customer (one who purchases or receives a product or service)
        le client est roi ― the customer is always right
        à la tête du client ― according to a person's looks, arbitrarily

      Descendants

      Further reading

      Lombard

      Etymology

      From Latin cliēns.

      Pronunciation

      • IPA(key): /kliˈɛnt/

      Noun

      client m (plural clientj, feminine clienta, plural feminine cliente or clientj)

      1. client, customer
      2. (Western orthographies) Alternative spelling of plural clientj
      3. Alternative form of feminine plural cliente

      Romanian

      Etymology

      Etymology tree
      Latin cliēnslbor.
      French clientbor.
      Romanian client

        Borrowed from French client, a learned borrowing from Latin cliēns.

        Pronunciation

        • Audio:(file)

        Noun

        client m (plural clienți)

        1. client

        Declension

        singular plural
        indefinite definite indefinite definite
        nominative-accusative client clientul clienți clienții
        genitive-dative client clientului clienți clienților
        vocative clientule clienților

        References

        • client in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN
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