cliens

Latin

Alternative forms

cluēns

Etymology

Possibly an alteration of cluēns, present active participle of clueō (“I am called, named, esteemed”), or more likely from clīnō (“to lean”). Ultimately from the root *ḱel- (“to incline”).

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈkli.ens/, [ˈklʲiẽːs̠]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈkli.ens/, [ˈkliːens]

Noun

cliēns m or f (genitive clientis); third declension

customer
client, retainer, follower
companion, favorite
(of a nation) ally, vassal
one under the protection of a particular deity
cliēns Bacchī — "client of Bacchus"

Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem).

	singular	plural
nominative	cliēns	clientēs
genitive	clientis	clientium
dative	clientī	clientibus
accusative	clientem	clientīs clientēs
ablative	cliente	clientibus
vocative	cliēns	clientēs

Derived terms

Descendants

French: client, cliente
Catalan: client
Galician: cliente
Italian: cliente
Portuguese: cliente
Romanian: client
Spanish: cliente
→ English: client
→ German: Klient
→ Russian: клие́нт (klijént)

References

“cliens”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“cliens”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
cliens in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
cliens in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
“cliens”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin