habitué

American  

[huh-bich-oo-ey, -bich-oo-ey, a-bee-twey] / həˈbɪtʃ uˌeɪ, -ˌbɪtʃ uˈeɪ, a biˈtweɪ /

noun

• habitués
  plural

1. a frequent or habitual visitor to a place.

   a habitué of art galleries.

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habitué British  

/ həˈbɪtjʊˌeɪ /

noun

1. a frequent visitor to a place

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• habitués
  plural

Etymology

Origin of habitué

First recorded in 1810–20; from French, noun use of masculine past participle of habituer, from Late Latin habituāre; see habituate

Explanation

A habitué is a frequent and well-known patron of a particular place. If you walk into a restaurant, and the entire staff waves and says your name, you are likely a habitué. The English habitué is spelled and pronounced the same as the 200-year-old French word (the accent is optional), which means "accustomed." The most famous habitué in American sitcom history is probably Norm Peterson of Cheers, whose arrival was always greeted by a chorus of patrons shouting "Norm!" Other, less French-sounding words for this famous fellow might be fixture or regular.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

habitué habitués

The older painter, though remaining a salon habitué, lent a Morisot painting he owned to the show.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2025

Shown evidence later that week by a HuffPost reporter that the man was a well-known habitué of St. Louis Cardinals baseball games, Mr. McBride replied: “If I’m wrong, so be it, bro. I don’t care.”

From New York Times ● Jun. 23, 2023

While researching, Peters also stumbled across the green darner dragonfly: Washington’s state insect; a habitué of lakes, ponds and springs; and a rich symbol.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 9, 2022

Idina Menzel, bringing all her Tony-winning radiance to the non-musical role she performed last year off-Broadway, plays Jodi Isaac, a 40-something Los Angeles lawyer whose husband dumped her for a 24-year-old habitué of SoulCycle.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2019

The intelligent tramp is another habitué of libraries.

From The Library and Society Reprints of Papers and Addresses by Arthur Elmore Bostwick

Business-class habitués might not care much but, when you’re splurging, it all starts with the welcome in my book.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 18, 2026

The couple became habitués, as did the Kissingers, Nixons, Trumps and Truman Capote, as well as diplomats from the nearby United Nations missions and generations of families from the surrounding tony East Side neighborhood.

From New York Times ● Aug. 4, 2022

The counterculture movement has deep roots from the granola-crunchy vibe of San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury to the chilled-out Abbot Kinney habitués of Venice of old.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 7, 2019

And it mattered that what café habitués were habituated to was drinking coffee.

From The New Yorker ● Dec. 17, 2018

The saloons drove literally a roaring trade, for the shindy that went on in them as the night wore on, and their habitués waxed livelier, was something indescribable.

From Golden Face A Tale of the Wild West by Bertram Mitford