usage
/ˈjusɪd͡ʒ/noun
usage is spelled U-S-A-G-E. The wrong spelling people search most is useage: about 330 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 2 in 10 of all searches for the word. Usage is a noun meaning “A custom or established practice”. The plural of usage is usages.
How many letters and syllables are in usage?
| Letters | 5: U-S-A-G-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 17 times per million words; the 4,838th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, useage, about 330 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 usage?
Usage is spelled U-S-A-G-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 2 in 10 of the searches for usage 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 usage?
Usage appears 17 times per million words in written English, the 4,838th 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 usage?
- UK /ˈjuːsɪd͡ʒ/
- UK /ˈjuːzɪd͡ʒ/
- US /ˈjusɪd͡ʒ/
Usage 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: En-us-usage.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of usage
- usages plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does usage mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A custom or established practice.
[S]everal young people sung sacred music in the churchyard at night, which it seems is an usage here.
- 2
Custom, tradition.
- 3
The act of using something; use, employment.
- 4
Prevailing language style: how words are used among a populace.
In descriptive fact, word senses are established by usage.
- 5
Choice of language style (made by a speaker or writer).
usage prescriptions
- 6
archaicAction towards someone; treatment, especially in negative sense.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Usage in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | usage , coutume |
| German | Verwendung, Benutzung, Anwendung, Nutzung , Brauch , Gebrauch |
| Portuguese | uso , emprego |
| Spanish | uso , usanza, usaje |
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 usage come from?
From Middle English usage, from Anglo-Norman and Old French usage. By surface analysis, use + -age.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).