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usher

ush·er[ˈʌʃ.ɚ]noun, verb

usher is spelled U-S-H-E-R: 5 letters and 2 syllables (ush·er). It appears 3.2 times per million words in written English, the 14,731st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, usher means “A person, in a church, cinema etc., who escorts people to their seats” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of usher is ushers.

How many letters and syllables are in usher?

Letters5: U-S-H-E-R
Syllables2: ush·er
In writing3.2 times per million words; the 14,731st most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is usher?

Usher appears 3.2 times per million words in written English, the 14,731st 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 usher?

  • /ˈʌʃəɹ/
  • UK [ˈʌʃ.ə(ɹ)]
  • US [ˈʌʃ.ɚ]

Usher has 2 syllables, split ush·er in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-usher.ogg, En-au-usher.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of usher

  • ushers plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • huisher
  • ushering participle, present
  • ushered participle, past
  • husher

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does usher mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A person, in a church, cinema etc., who escorts people to their seats.

  2. 2

    A male escort at a wedding.

  3. 3

    A doorkeeper in a courtroom.

  4. 4

    obsoleteAn assistant to a head teacher or schoolteacher; an assistant teacher.

  5. 5

    datedderogatoryAny schoolteacher.

verb

  1. 1

    To guide people to their seats.

  2. 2

    To accompany or escort (someone).

  3. 3

    To precede; to act as a forerunner or herald.

  4. 4

    To lead or guide somewhere.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Usher in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchouvreur (person who escorts people to their seats), escorte, garçon d'honneur (male escort at a wedding), huissier (doorkeeper in a courtroom), escorter (to accompany or escort)
GermanPlatzanweiser (person who escorts people to their seats), Gerichtsdiener (doorkeeper in a courtroom), begleiten (to accompany or escort), zuweisen, anweisen, führen (to guide people to their seats)
Portugueselanterninha, arrumador (person who escorts people to their seats)
Spanishacomodador, acomodadora, ujier, usier (person who escorts people to their seats), ordenanza (doorkeeper in a courtroom), acomodar (to guide people to their seats)

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 usher come from?

From Middle English ussher, uscher, usscher, from Anglo-Norman usser and Old French ussier, uissier (“porter, doorman”) (compare French huissier), from Vulgar Latin *ustiārius (“doorkeeper”), from Latin ōstiārius, from ōstium (“door”). Akin to ōs (“mouth”). Probably a doublet of ostiary and huissier.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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