# habitual

> English word · Adjective · IPA /həˈbɪ.tʃʊ.əl/ · frequency rank #24,181

## Definitions
1. Of or relating to a habit; established as a habit; performed over and over again; recurrent, recurring.
2. Regular or usual.
3. Of a person or thing: engaging in some behaviour as a habit or regularly.
4. Pertaining to an action performed customarily, ordinarily, or usually.

## Etymology
The adjective is derived from Late Middle English habitual (“of one's inherent disposition”), from Medieval Latin habituālis (“customary; habitual”), from Latin habitus (“character; disposition; habit; physical or emotional condition; attire, dress”) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship); analysable as habit + -ual. Habitus is derived from habeō (“to have; to hold; to own; to possess”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰeh₁bʰ- (“to grab, take”)) + -tus (suffix forming action nouns from verbs).
The noun is derived from the adjective.

## Easily confused with
- **habitually** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/habitual-vs-habitually)
- **habitat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/habitat-vs-habitual)

## Common misspellings (11)
`ahbitual`, `habbitual`, `habitaul`, `habittual`, `habituall`, `habitula`, `habiutal`, `habtiual`, `haibtual`, `hbaitual`, `hhabitual`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/habitual