Purchasser

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Someone who acquires goods, property or services in exchange for payment
2. A person who obtains an item by paying money for it, often in a commercial transaction
3. The individual or party that buys merchandise, land or other assets from a seller

Etymology: The standard spelling has one "s", and the word's history starts with a hunt. "Purchase" entered English in the Middle Ages from Anglo-French "purchacier", meaning to pursue or seek to obtain. It combines "pur-", from Latin "pro-" meaning forth, with "chacier", "to chase", which goes back through Latin "captiare" to "capere", to seize. A purchase was originally a pursuit. The sense moved from chasing game to chasing gain. "Purchase" came to mean obtaining something through effort, and then through payment. English property law still keeps the older logic: a "purchase" there means acquiring land by any means other than inheritance. "Purchaser" simply adds the agent suffix "-er" to that verb.