Usher

How to spell usher

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce usher

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does usher mean?

1. nounA person who shows people to their seats at an event, a theatre, or a ceremony.
2. verbTo lead or escort someone politely from one place to another.

Usher in a sentence

• noun

  The usher guided latecomers to the back row of the cinema.

• verb

  The receptionist will usher each candidate into the interview room.

• noun

  At the wedding, an usher handed each guest an order of service.

• verb

  Staff began to usher the crowd toward the emergency exits.

Where does usher come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Usher traces back to the Latin ostiarius, meaning 'doorkeeper', which was built on ostium, the everyday Latin word for a door or entrance. The doorkeeper's job was to control who came and went, so the word carried a sense of guiding people across a threshold. It passed into English through Old French ussier or uissier in the 1300s, originally naming the officer who guarded a door or attended an important person. Over time the meaning softened from a formal doorkeeper to anyone who shows visitors to their places, and a verb grew out of it for the act of leading someone in. The buried Latin door, ostium, explains why the spelling keeps the soft -sh- sound that learners sometimes second-guess.

How the word is built

• ush- (from Latin ostium: door, entrance)
• -er (agent/role suffix)