accustom
/əˈkʌs.təm/verb
accustom is spelled A-C-C-U-S-T-O-M. The wrong spelling people search most is acustom: about 50 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 2 in 10 of all searches for the word. Accustom is a verb meaning “To make familiar by use; to cause to accept; to habituate, familiarize, or inure”.
How many letters and syllables are in accustom?
| Letters | 8: A-C-C-U-S-T-O-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 9 million words; the 88,353rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, acustom, about 50 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell accustom?
Accustom is spelled A-C-C-U-S-T-O-M. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 2 in 10 of the searches for accustom in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is accustom?
Accustom appears about once in every 9 million words in written English, the 88,353rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce accustom?
- /əˈkʌs.təm/
Accustom has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-accustom.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of accustom
- accustoms present, singular, he/she/it
- accustoming participle, present
- accustomed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does accustom mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To make familiar by use; to cause to accept; to habituate, familiarize, or inure.
Early exposure to pet allergens and pet-related bacteria accustoms the body to allergens.
- 2
obsoleteTo be wont.
- 3
obsoleteTo cohabit.
noun
- 1
obsoleteCustom.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Accustom in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | accoutumer |
| German | gewöhnen , sich gewöhnen, pflegen |
| Portuguese | acostumar |
| Spanish | acostumbrar |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does accustom come from?
The verb is from Middle English accustomen, from Old French acoustumer, acustumer (Modern French accoutumer) corresponding to a (“to, toward”) + custom. More at custom, costume. The noun is from Middle English acustom.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).