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Origin and history of user

user(n.)

"one who makes use of something," c. 1400, agent noun from use (v.). In reference to users of narcotics by 1935, of computers by 1967. User-friendly (1977) is said in some sources to have been coined by software designer Harlan Crowder as early as 1972.

also from c. 1400

Entries linking to user

use(v.)

c. 1200, usen, "employ for a purpose," from Old French user "employ, make use of, practice, frequent," from Vulgar Latin *usare "use," from stem of Latin uti "make use of, profit by, take advantage of, enjoy, apply, consume" (in Old Latin oeti "use, employ, exercise, perform"), a word of uncertain origin. Related: Used; using. It took senses of Old English brucan (see brook (v.)).

For intransitive senses (used to), see used. From c. 1300 as "speak or write a language;" by mid-14c. as "consume" (food, medicine). From late 14c. as "take advantage of" a situation, "seize" an opportunity; "enjoy, have a right to." To use up "consume entirely" is by 1785.

username(n.)

by 1982, from user + name (n.).

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    Trends of user

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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    lite
    The word Adjusto-Lite for portable electric lamps was opposed by the user of a trade mark Auto-lite registered before the...
    loaf
    Its meaning, like that of its opposite, "work," depends largely on the user....
    buccaneer
    coast," 1680s; earlier "one who roasts meat on a boucan" (1660s), from French boucanier "a pirate; a curer of wild meats, a user...
    dedicated
    Of things, "made to be available only for a particular purpose or class of user," by 1969. Related: Dedicatedly. ...
    social
    I believe that I have used the term myself: it should never be employed unless the user is prepared to define clearly what...
    head
    Old English heafod "top of the body," also "upper end of a slope," also "chief person, leader, ruler; capital city," from Proto-Germanic *haubid (source also of Old Saxon hobid, Old Norse hofuð, Old Frisian haved, Middle Dutch hovet, Dutch hoofd, Old High German houbit, German Ha
    individual
    early 15c., "one and indivisible, inseparable" (with reference to the Trinity), from Medieval Latin individualis, from Latin individuus "indivisible," from in- "not, opposite of" (see in- (1)) + dividuus "divisible," from dividere "divide" (see divide (v.)). Original sense now ob
    mortal
    late 14c., "deadly, destructive to life; causing or threatening death" (of illness, poisons, wounds, etc.); also, of persons or the body, "doomed to die, subject to death;" from Old French mortel "destined to die; deserving of death" and directly from Latin mortalis "subject to d
    somebody
    c. 1300 as two words, from 16c. as one word, "indeterminate person, person unnamed or unknown," from some + body. Used in place of the name of a person whose name is to be unspoken, by c. 1600. The meaning "important person, person of consequence" is from 1560s. Related: Somebodi
    addict
    1530s (implied in addicted) "to devote or give up (oneself) to a habit or occupation," from Latin addictus, past participle of addicere "to deliver, award, yield; make over, sell," properly "give one's assent to," but figuratively "to devote, consecrate; sacrifice, sell out, betr

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