Shareholder
Etymology
A transparent compound of "share" (a portion, from Old English "scearu," a cutting) and "holder." It names one who holds a share of a company’s divided capital, a concept that grew with the joint-stock company from the seventeenth century onward.
noun · /SHAIR-hohl-der/
A person or entity that owns shares of stock in a company and therefore holds a financial stake in its ownership.
What it names
A specific relationship to a firm — legal part-ownership through equity — as opposed to the looser set of everyone affected by it.
Example
As a shareholder she got one vote per share at the annual meeting and a slice of any dividend.
Related idea
Narrower than a stakeholder, a term deliberately coined to be broader: stakeholders include employees, customers, suppliers, and neighbors — anyone with an interest in the firm — whereas a shareholder specifically owns part of it. Debates over corporate purpose often turn on which group a company should serve.