'audient' originates from Latin, specifically the word 'audiens', where the root 'aud-' (from 'audire') meant 'to hear'.

'audient' changed from Latin present-participle 'audiēns' (meaning 'hearing') through Medieval Latin and occasional Middle English/learned usage and eventually became the modern English word 'audient'.

Initially, it meant 'hearing' or 'one who is hearing', and over time it has retained the sense of 'one who listens' or 'a member of an audience'.