Amuse

How to spell amuse

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce amuse

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does amuse mean?

1. verbTo entertain someone or make them smile, especially in a light or pleasant way.

Amuse in a sentence

• The comedian managed to amuse even the tired audience at the late show.

• We brought board games to amuse the children during the long flight.

Where does amuse come from?

Language of origin: French

This word came into English in the late 1400s from the Old French amuser, which combined the prefix a- (from Latin ad-, meaning 'to' or 'toward') with the verb muser, meaning 'to stare idly, to ponder, or to loiter and waste time'. The original sense was less about laughter and more about occupying or diverting someone's attention, sometimes even with the shade of deceiving or distracting them so they did nothing useful. Over the 1600s and 1700s the meaning softened in English from 'to divert the mind' into the cheerful modern sense of 'to entertain or make someone smile'. The verb muser is also the likely ancestor of 'muse' meaning to reflect quietly, which is why the spelling keeps that simple s before the e rather than a z, despite the buzzing sound. Keeping in mind the single m and the muse inside the word helps fix the spelling.

How the word is built

• a- (intensive prefix, from Latin ad- 'to')
• muse (from Old French muser 'to ponder, stare idly, waste time')