得意先

• 読み: とくいさき
• ローマ字: tokuisaki
• 漢字の分解: 得 (toku) — gain, obtain; 意 (i) — intention, will; 先 (saki) — destination, ahead
• 発音: /to.kɯ.i.sa.ki/

意味

A regular customer or client; an established patron with an ongoing business relationship.

A noun referring to customers or clients with whom a business has a continuing relationship. Distinguished from 顧客 (customer, more formal) and お客さん (customer, general). 得意先 specifically implies a valued, repeat business relationship. Common in sales and business contexts. 得意先回り means 'visiting clients' (making sales rounds). The word 得意 alone can also mean 'one's strong point' — here it carries the older meaning of a favoured patron.

例文

1. 今日は得意先を三件回る予定だ。
2. 得意先からの注文が急に増えて生産が追いつかない。
3. 新しい得意先を開拓するために営業チームを強化した。

使い方ガイド

場面: business, sales, commerce, retail

トーン: professional

起源と歴史

From 得意 (tokui, originally 'a favoured patron' from the sense of someone who gives favourable custom) + 先 (saki, destination/party). In modern usage, 得意 commonly means 'strong point,' but in 得意先 it preserves the older commercial meaning.

文化的背景

時代: Classical

世代: Adults

社会的背景: Professional