audient

Meanings

Adjective

• Listening, paying attention.

Noun

• A hearer; a member of an audience
• A catechumen in the early Christian Church.

Origin

• Borrowed from Latin audientem, accusative singular of audiēns (or directly from audiēns), the present active participle of audiō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewis ("clearly, manifestly") (from *h₂ew-) + *dʰeh₁-.
• The noun may be borrowed from Late Latin audiēns ("catechumen"), from the participle audiēns.