お客(きゃく)さん

おきゃくさん
noun
guest, customer
polite
See also: 客(きゃく) (plain form), お客様(きゃくさま) (honorific form)
1. guest, visitor
A person visiting someone's home.
お客(きゃく)さんが来(き)た。
A guest arrived.
お客(きゃく)さんにお茶(ちゃ)を出(だ)した。
I served tea to the guest.
明日(あした)、お客(きゃく)さんが家(いえ)に来(く)る。
A visitor is coming to our house tomorrow.
2. customer, patron
A person who buys goods or services from a business.
お客(きゃく)さん、何(なに)をお探(さが)しですか？
Customer, what are you looking for?
今日(きょう)はお客(きゃく)さんが多(おお)い。
There are many customers today.
お客(きゃく)さんを大切(たいせつ)にする店(みせ)だ。
It's a shop that values its customers.

お客(きゃく)さん is the polite, everyday term for both guests and customers. The お～さん honorific pattern makes it warm and approachable.

Formality levels

  • 客(きゃく): plain, can sound blunt when referring to people directly
  • お客(きゃく)さん: polite everyday form (most common)
  • お客(きゃく)様(さま): very formal, used in business and service settings

As a form of address

Shop staff and service workers use お客(きゃく)さん or お客(きゃく)様(さま) to address customers directly ("Excuse me, customer..."). This is natural in Japanese, unlike English.

Common collocations

Related words

Related Words

Related: 来客(らいきゃく) (visitor)
Related: 顧客(こきゃく) (client, customer)
Compare: 来場者(らいじょうしゃ) (visitor)
Compare: 得意先(とくいさき) (customer)
general
Added 2026.2.5 23:59 · Revised 2026.9.2 13:01
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