kijker

Kijker is a Dutch noun meaning a person who looks at something, i.e., a viewer or spectator. The term is used for someone who observes an event, watches a performance, or views media content such as television or online videos. In everyday language and in media discourse, kijker refers to an individual member of an audience, with the plural kijkers. In combination with words like kijkcijfers, the term is part of the vocabulary for assessing audience size and engagement.

Etymology and related forms: Kijker is formed from kijken (to look) with the agent noun suffix -er, a common pattern in Dutch for denoting a person associated with an activity. The concept is akin to the English viewer or the German Betrachter. In many contexts, the word denotes people rather than objects; it is not typically used to name a device by itself.

Context and usage: The word appears in phrases such as “de kijker” or “de kijkers van de uitzending,” and in statistics such as “het aantal kijkers” or “kijkcijfers.” It is also used in phrases describing behavior or reception, for example, “Een nieuwsgierige kijker keek naar het moment.” In optical instruments, the root kijker can appear in compound forms (for example verrekijker, meaning binoculars), but the standalone device is usually referred to by the full compound rather than simply as kijker.

Summary: Kijker is a neutral, widely used term for an observer or audience member in Dutch, with primary relevance in media, events, and everyday observation, and a historical link to the broader family of viewing-related terms.