usual
u·su·al/ˈju.ʒuəl/adjective, noun
usual is spelled U-S-U-A-L, 3 syllables: u·su·al. The wrong spelling people search most is ususal: about 20 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 51 of all searches for the word. Usual is an adjective meaning “Most commonly occurring; typical”.
How many letters and syllables are in usual?
| Letters | 5: U-S-U-A-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: u·su·al |
| In writing | 42 times per million words; the 2,392nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, ususal, about 20 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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); 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 usual?
Usual is spelled U-S-U-A-L. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 51 of the searches for usual 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 usual?
Usual appears 42 times per million words in written English, the 2,392nd 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 usual?
- UK /ˈjuː.ʒʊəl/
- US /ˈju.ʒuəl/
- US /ˈju.ʒ(w)əl/
Usual has 3 syllables, split u·su·al in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-usual.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of usual
- more usual comparative
- most usual superlative
- uzhe
- uzh
- yoozh
- usuals plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does usual mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Most commonly occurring; typical.
The preference of a boy to a girl is a usual occurrence in some parts of China.
noun
- 1
The typical state of something, or something that is typical.
- 2
colloquialA specific good or service (e.g. a drink) that someone typically orders.
I'll just have the usual.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate usual?
Wiktionary records 3 abbreviations of usual: usu, usu., uzhe.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Usual in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense most commonly occurring:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | habituel, habituelle |
| German | gewöhnlich, üblich |
| Portuguese | usual |
| Spanish | usual, habitual, consabido |
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 usual come from?
From Middle English usual, from Old French usuel, from Latin ūsuālis (“for use, fit for use, also of common use, customary, common, ordinary, usual”), from ūsus (“use, habit, custom”), from the past participle stem of ūtī (“to use”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃eyt- (“to take along, fetch”). Displaced native Old English ġewunelīċ.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).