Unused

How to spell unused

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce unused

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does unused mean?

1. adjectiveNot having been used, or no longer in use.
2. adjectiveNot accustomed to something; lacking familiarity with it, used with 'to'.

Unused in a sentence

• The spare bedroom sat unused for most of the year.

• He was unused to such long commutes after years of working from home.

• She returned the unused tickets for a full refund.

• The new manager felt unused to speaking in front of large crowds.

Where does unused come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word is built from the everyday verb 'use', which English took through Old French 'user' from the Latin 'uti', meaning 'to make use of' or 'to employ'. To that core was added the native English prefix 'un-', meaning simply 'not', and the past-participle ending '-d', so the whole formation literally means 'not used'. The prefix 'un-' is one of the oldest pieces of English, inherited straight from Old English and the wider Germanic family, which is why it attaches so freely to verbs and adjectives alike. The '-sed' spelling preserves the 'use' inside the word, and that is the helpful memory hook: it is simply 'un' plus 'used', with no letters dropped or added. A separate, slightly older sense, 'unused to' meaning 'not accustomed', kept a sharper /s/ sound but the same spelling, a reminder that one spelling can carry two pronunciations.

How the word is built

• un- (not)
• use (from Latin uti: to make use of)
• -d (past-participle/adjective ending)