amuse
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
5 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "amuse", 5-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "amuse" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "amuse" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
amuse is aEnglishverb. It means: To entertain or occupy (someone or something) in a pleasant manner; to stir (someone) with pleasing emotions. Pronounced /əˈmjuːz/. Often confused with arse and anus.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | amuse |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /əˈmjuːz/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #24,652 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for amuse is 5 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əˈmjuːz/. Corpus data places it at rank #24,652 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 6 documented wrong-spelling variants for amuse, with forms such as "ammuse", "amsue", and "amues". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "arse", "anus", "Aust", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd Proto-Italic *ad Proto-Italic *ad- Latin ad- Old French a- Old French muser Old French amuserbor. Middle English *amusen English amuse From Late Middle English *amusen (“to mutter, be astonished, gaze meditatively on… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is amuse, spelled A-M-U-S-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1To entertain or occupy (someone or something) in a pleasant manner; to stir (someone) with pleasing emotions.
- 2To cause laughter or amusement; to be funny.
- 3To keep in expectation; to beguile; to delude.
- 4To occupy or engage the attention of; to lose in deep thought; to absorb; also, to distract; to bewilder.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd Proto-Italic *ad Proto-Italic *ad- Latin ad- Old French a- Old French muser Old French amuserbor. Middle English *amusen English amuse 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”). Possibly from Old French *mus (“snout”) from Vulgar Latin *mūsa (“snout”) — compare Medieval Latin mūsum (“muzzle, snout”) –, from Proto-Germanic *mū- (“muzzle, snout”), from Proto-Indo-European *mū- (“lips, muzzle”). Compare North Frisian müs, mös (“mouth”), German Maul (“muzzle, snout”). Alternative etymology connects muser and musa with Frankish *muoza (“careful attention, leisure, idleness”), from Proto-Germanic *mōtǭ (“leave, permission”), from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to acquire, possess, control”). This would make it a cognate of Dutch musen (“to leisure”), Old High German *muoza (“careful attention, leisure, idleness”) and muozōn (“to be idle, have leisure or opportunity”), German Muße (“leisure”). More at empty.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ammuse,amsue,amues,amusse,aumse,mause
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for amuse
Misspelling Variants of "amuse"
Frequency rank: #24,652 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter A in our English index: