Uses

How to spell uses

4 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce uses

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does uses mean?

1. verbThird-person singular form of the verb meaning to employ something for a purpose.
2. nounPlural of the noun meaning the ways in which something can be employed.

Uses in a sentence

• verb

  She uses the train to commute into the city each morning.

• noun

  Baking soda has dozens of practical uses around the home.

• verb

  The office uses recycled paper for all internal printing.

• noun

  The manual lists all the recommended uses for the appliance.

Where does uses come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb uti, meaning 'to use, employ, or make use of', whose past participle gave the noun usus, 'a using' or 'employment'. The noun and verb passed into Old French as us and user before crossing into English in the 1200s, when written documents were full of legal and practical talk about the 'use' of land, goods, and rights. English kept both a noun and a verb, and over time they drifted apart in sound: the noun 'use' ends in a soft hiss, while the verb 'use' ends in a buzzing z, a split you still hear when you compare the plural noun 'uses' with the verb 'uses'. The same Latin root survives in a whole family of relatives such as 'usual', 'utility', 'utensil', and 'abuse'. The spelling stayed simple because the word arrived early and was worn smooth by centuries of daily use.

How the word is built

• use (from Latin usus: a using, employment)
• -es (plural noun / third-person singular verb ending)