Use

How to spell use

3 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce use

What does use mean?

1. verbTo put something into service or employ it for a purpose.
2. nounThe act of employing something, or the purpose for which it serves.

Use in a sentence

• verb

  Please use the side entrance while the lobby is being repaired.

• noun

  The old factory has no practical use now that production has moved abroad.

• verb

  The accountants use a spreadsheet to track every invoice.

• noun

  Daily use of the machine wore down its parts within a year.

Where does use come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word arrived in English in the 1200s from Old French user, meaning to employ or make use of something, which descended from the Latin verb usare, a repeated-action form of uti, meaning 'to use, enjoy, or make practice of'. The related Latin noun usus, meaning 'practice, employment, or experience', is the direct ancestor of the noun sense and explains why English ended up with one spelling carrying two pronunciations. Over time English split the sound: the verb softened its final consonant to a /z/, while the noun kept the original hard /s/, even though both kept the identical spelling. The same uti root sits inside familiar relatives such as 'utility', 'usual', and 'utensil', all touching on the idea of being put to practical service. Because the spelling stayed simple and short while the pronunciation forked, modern writers rarely misspell it; the only real trap is forgetting the silent shaping when adding endings.

How the word is built

• use (single root from Latin usus, meaning practice or employment); no prefix or suffix in the modern English form