amuse
/əˈmjuːz/verb
amuse is spelled A-M-U-S-E: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 24,745th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, amuse means “To entertain or occupy (someone or something) in a pleasant manner; to stir (someone) with pleasing emotions” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in amuse?
| Letters | 5: A-M-U-S-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.3 times per million words; the 24,745th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is amuse?
Amuse appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 24,745th 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 amuse?
- /əˈmjuːz/
Amuse has 2 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-amuse.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of amuse
- amuses present, singular, he/she/it
- amusing participle, present
- amused participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does amuse mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To entertain or occupy (someone or something) in a pleasant manner; to stir (someone) with pleasing emotions.
I watch these movies because they amuse me.
- 2
To cause laughter or amusement; to be funny.
His jokes rarely fail to amuse me.
- 3
archaicTo keep in expectation; to beguile; to delude.
- 4
archaicTo occupy or engage the attention of; to lose in deep thought; to absorb; also, to distract; to bewilder.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Amuse in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | amuser |
| German | amüsieren, vergnügen , belustigen, erheitern |
| Portuguese | entreter, divertir |
| Spanish | entretener, distraer, embebecer , divertir |
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 amuse come from?
From Late Middle English *amusen (“to mutter, be astonished, gaze meditatively on”), from Old French amuser (“to stupefy, waste time, be lost in thought”), from a- + muser (“to stare stupidly at, gape, wander, waste time, loiter, think carefully about, attend to”), of uncertain and obscure origin. Cognate with Occitan musa (“idle waiting”), Italian musare (“to gape idly about”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).