user
Word family
Synonym discussion
Sense: noun/1
User, consumer, and customer all refer to people who interact with products or services, but the contexts differ. 'User' is the broadest term and the only one that regularly describes someone operating a device or digital system — for example, a software user or a library user. 'Consumer' appears most often in economic contexts: a consumer buys and uses goods produced by others, and the word emphasises the flow from producer to buyer. 'Customer' is someone who purchases from a specific shop, company, or provider and implies a transactional relationship. If you log into an app, you are a user. If you buy groceries, you are a consumer. If you pay a restaurant bill, you are a customer.
Common collocations
Etymology
The word 'user' comes from the Old French 'user' (to use, employ), which itself comes from the Latin 'usus' (use, practice, usage). The suffix '-er' was added in English to mean 'a person who uses something.' The word appeared in English around the 14th century. The negative sense of someone who exploits others emerged in the early 1900s, and the specific 'drug user' sense became common in the mid-20th century.