Standard Lemma guide

customs

noun · verb · 7 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈkʌs.təmz/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: K AH1 S T AH0 M Z Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, in-plural, uncountable

Examples

  • Customs of £200 were due on all the wine we took back from France.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The government department or agency that is authorised to collect the taxes imposed on imported goods.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: singular, uncountable

Examples

  • Customs stopped us in the airport for an inspection.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

The process of going through customs checks at a border checkpoint.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • They usually don't care about customs, but she was clearly planning on selling most of it.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

The location at a border checkpoint where customs checks are carried out.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

plural of custom

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: form-of, plural

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

verb

Meaning 6

third-person singular simple present indicative of custom

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: form-of, indicative, present, singular, third-person

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

noun

Meaning 7

money collected under a tariff

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: customs duty, custom, impost

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: duty, tariff

Narrower terms: ship money

History

Etymology

Plural of custom. Perhaps influenced by or taken as a corruption of customhouse, from Middle English custome hous.

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Across languages

Translations

101 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: doganë — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Arabic: رُسُوم (rusūm) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Arabic: جُمْرُك (jumruk) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Arabic: رُسُوم جُمْرُكِيَّة (rusūm jumrukiyya) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Arabic: جُمْرُك (jumruk) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Arabic: رُسُوم (rusūm) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Arabic: رُسُوم جُمْرُكِيَّة (rusūm jumrukiyya) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Armenian: մաքս (makʻs) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Azerbaijani: rüsum — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Azerbaijani: gömrük — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Belarusian: мы́та (mýta) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Belarusian: мы́тны збор (mýtny zbor) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Bulgarian: мито́ (mitó) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Burmese: အကောက်ခွန် (a.kaukhkwan) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Catalan: duana — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Chinese Mandarin: 關稅 /关税 (guānshuì) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Czech: clo — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Danish: told — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Dutch: douanerechten — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Esperanto: dogano — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Estonian: toll — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Finnish: tulli — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Finnish: tullimaksu — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • French: douane — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • French: douanes — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Galician: arancel — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Georgian: ბაჟი (baži) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • German: Zoll — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • German: Zollgebühr — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Greek: δασμός (dasmós) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Hindi: सीमा शुल्क (sīmā śulk) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Hindi: प्रशुल्क (praśulk) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Hungarian: vám — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Indonesian: bea — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Ingrian: tamožnoi — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Irish: custam — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Italian: dazio — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Italian: gabella — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Italian: imposte — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Italian: accise — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Italian: dogana — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Japanese: 関税 (kanzei) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Japanese: カスタム (kasutamu) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Japanese: カスタムス (kasutamusu) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Japanese: カスタムズ (kasutamuzu) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Kazakh: кеден салықтары (keden salyqtary) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Khmer: សុលកាករ (solkaakɑɑ) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Korean: 관세 (gwanse) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Kyrgyz: бажы алымы (bajı alımı) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Kyrgyz: бажы (bajı) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Kyrgyz: пошлина (poşlina) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Ladino: dogana — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Ladino: duana — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Ladino: komarka — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Ladino: kumerchu (Monastir) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Lao: ສຸລະກາກອນ (su la kā kǭn) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Latvian: muita — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Lithuanian: muitas — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Macedonian: царина (carina) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Malay: kastam — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Māori: katimauhe — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Mongolian: гааль (gaalʹ) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Norman: douanne — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Norwegian Bokmål: toll — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Occitan: doana — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Iranian Persian: گُمْرُک (gomrok) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Polish: cło — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Polish: opłata celna — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Portuguese: alfândega — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Portuguese: aduana — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Romanian: vamă — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Russian: тамо́женный сбор (tamóžennyj sbor) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Russian: тамо́женная по́шлина (tamóžennaja póšlina) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Serbo-Croatian: ца̏рина — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Serbo-Croatian: cȁrina — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Slovak: clo — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Slovene: carina — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Spanish: aduana — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Spanish: arancel — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Spanish: derechos de aduana — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Spanish: aranceles — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Swahili: ushuru wa forodha — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Swedish: tull — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Tajik: гумрук (gumruk) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Thai: ศุลกากร (sǔn-lá-gaa-gɔɔn) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Thai: ภาษีศุลกากร (paa-sǐi-sǔn-lá-gaa-gɔɔn) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Turkish: gümrük — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Ottoman Turkish: كمرك (gümrük) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Ottoman Turkish: باج (bac) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Ukrainian: ми́то (mýto) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Ukrainian: ми́тний збір (mýtnyj zbir) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Urdu: سَرْحَد حاصِل (sarhad hāsil) — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Uzbek: tamojnya boji — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Uzbek: gumruk — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Uzbek: boj — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Uzbek: poshlina — the duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods
  • Dutch: douane — customs checks at a border checkpoint
  • Esperanto: dogano — customs checks at a border checkpoint
  • Finnish: tullitarkastus — customs checks at a border checkpoint
  • Malay: kastam — customs checks at a border checkpoint
  • Polish: odprawa celna — customs checks at a border checkpoint
Real reading context

customs in complete knowledge articles