usage

See also: usagé

English

Alternative forms

• usuage (obsolete)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Anglo-Norman usagebor.

Middle English usage

English usage

From Middle English usage, from Anglo-Norman and Old French usage. By surface analysis, use +‎ -age.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈjuːsɪd͡ʒ/, /ˈjuːzɪd͡ʒ/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈjusɪd͡ʒ/, /ˈjuzɪd͡ʒ/

  • Audio (Southern California):

    (file)

• (Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈjʉːsɪd͡ʒ/, /ˈjʉːzɪd͡ʒ/

Noun

usage (countable and uncountable, plural usages)

1. Habit, practice.
   1. A custom or established practice. [from 14th c.]
      • 1792, James Boswell, in Danziger & Brady (eds.), Boswell: The Great Biographer (Journals 1789–1795), Yale 1989, p. 170:

        [S]everal young people sung sacred music in the churchyard at night, which it seems is an usage here.

      • 1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC:

        Mrs. Wickam, agreeably to the usage of some ladies in her condition, pursued […] the subject, without any compunction.

   2. (uncountable) Custom, tradition. [from 14th c.]
2. Utilization.
   1. The act of using something; use, employment. [from 14th c.]
      • 2025 February 19, 'Industry Insider', “South West boost”, in RAIL, number 1029, page 68, about the Falmouth branch:

        Demand continues to increase, and in 2023-24 recorded usage was higher than pre-COVID, with 384,000 passenger journeys in total (of which 247,000 were at the town location). At the other end of the branch, Truro station had usage of 1.19 million, of which 255,000 were recorded as interchange passengers.

   3. The established custom of using language; the ways and contexts in which spoken and written words are used, especially by a certain group of people or in a certain region. [from 14th c.]
      2. Prevailing language style: how words are used among a populace.

         In descriptive fact, word senses are established by usage.

         • 2016, Mark Shoulson, “pIqaD (Klingon) and its Usage”, in Unicode‎^[1], archived from the original on 24 August 2021, page 1:

           The years roll by as they always do, and more examples of pIqaD usage for Klingon have been coming to light. Does this still not count as usage?

      4. Choice of language style (made by a speaker or writer).

         usage prescriptions

         In prescriptive ideal, writers will optimize their usage.

   4. (now archaic) Action towards someone; treatment, especially in negative sense. [from 16th c.]
      • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

        Whose sharp provokement them incenst so sore, / That both were bent t'avenge his usage base […]

      • 1693, [John Locke], “§115”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], →OCLC:

        Satisfy a child by a constant course of your care and kindness, that you perfectly love him, and he may by degrees be accustom'd to bear very painful and rough usage from you, without flinching or complaining

Derived terms

• ill-usage
• usage dictionary
• usage guide
• usage label
• usage lexicography
• usage note
• usage panel
• usage share

Translations

act of using something; use — see also use,‎ utilization,‎ employment

Arabic: اِسْتِخْدَام (istiḵdām) Assamese: ব্যৱহাৰ (byowohar) Bulgarian: употреба (bg) f (upotreba) Catalan: ús (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 用法 (zh) (yòngfǎ) Dutch: gebruik (nl) n Esperanto: uzado Finnish: käyttö (fi), käsittely (fi) French: usage (fr) m Galician: emprego (gl) m, uso (gl) m Georgian: გამოყენება (gamoq̇eneba), სარგებლობა (sargebloba), მოხმარება (moxmareba) German: Verwendung (de) f, Benutzung (de) f, Anwendung (de) f, Nutzung (de) f Greek: χρήση (el) f (chrísi) Ancient Greek: χρῆσις f (khrêsis) Hindi: लौकिकता f (laukiktā) Hungarian: használat (hu) Indonesian: pakai (id), pemakaian (id) Italian: utilizzo (it) m, utilizzi (it) m pl Japanese: 使い方 (ja) (tsukaikata) Kazakh: қолданыс (qoldanys) Latin: ūsus (la) m Latvian: lietojums m, lietojumi m pl Malayalam: വിനിയോഗം (ml) (viniyōgaṁ), ഉപയോഗം (ml) (upayōgaṁ) Māori: whakamahinga Norwegian: bruksområde n Persian: کاربرد (fa) (kârbord) Polish: użycie (pl) n Portuguese: uso (pt) m Russian: испо́льзование (ru) n (ispólʹzovanije), примене́ние (ru) n (primenénije), обраще́ние (ru) n (obraščénije), употребле́ние (ru) n (upotreblénije) Sanskrit: विनियोगः (sa) (viniyogaḥ) Serbo-Croatian: upotreba (sh) f Spanish: uso (es) m Sylheti: ꠛꠦꠛꠀꠞ (beboar), ꠁꠍ꠆ꠔꠦꠝꠣꠟ (iśtemal) Telugu: వాడుక (te) (vāḍuka) Ukrainian: ужи́ток m (užýtok), вжи́ток m (vžýtok), використа́ння (uk) n (vykorystánnja), кори́стува́ння n (korýstuvánnja)

habit or accepted practice — see also use

Bulgarian: обичай (bg) m (običaj) Catalan: ús (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 習慣 / 习惯 (zh) (xíguàn) Finnish: käytäntö (fi) French: coutume (fr) f, usage (fr) Galician: uso (gl) m, usanza f, hábito (gl) m German: Brauch (de) m Hungarian: szokás (hu), gyakorlat (hu) Italian: uso (it) m, usi (it) m pl Japanese: 使い方 (ja) (tsukaikata), 習慣 (ja) (しゅうかん, shūkan) Malayalam: ഉപയോഗം (ml) (upayōgaṁ) Norwegian: anvendelse (no) m Polish: zwyczaj (pl) m, praktyka (pl) f, uzus (pl) m Portuguese: emprego (pt) m, uso (pt) Russian: обы́чай (ru) m (obýčaj), обыкнове́ние (ru) n (obyknovénije), привы́чка (ru) f (privýčka), тради́ция (ru) f (tradícija) Spanish: usanza (es) f, usaje m Telugu: వాడుక (te) (vāḍuka) Ukrainian: зви́чай m (zvýčaj)

the way words are spoken or written in a community

Bulgarian: употреба (bg) f (upotreba) Czech: jazyková praxe f Esperanto: lingvaĵo Finnish: kielenkäyttö (fi), puhetapa (fi) French: usage (fr) m Galician: emprego (gl) m, uso (gl) m German: Gebrauch (de) m Hungarian: szóhasználat (hu) Indonesian: praktik berbahasa Japanese: 使い方 (ja) (tsukaikata), 用法 (ja) (yōhō) Malayalam: ഉപയോഗരീതി (upayōgarīti) Norwegian: bruk (no) m Polish: praktyka językowa f, uzus językowy m Portuguese: emprego (pt) m Russian: употребле́ние (ru) n (upotreblénije), языковая практика f (jazykovaja praktika), словоупотребление (ru) n (slovoupotreblenije), у́зус (ru) m (úzus) Serbo-Croatian: jezična uporaba f, jezična praksa f, jezična izvedba f Slovak: jazyková prax f Telugu: వాడుక (te) (vāḍuka) Ukrainian: слововжива́ння n (slovovžyvánnja), слововжи́ток m (slovovžýtok), у́зус m (úzus)

References

• “usage” in R.R.K. Hartmann and Gregory James, Dictionary of Lexicography, Routledge, 1998.
• Sydney I. Landau (2001), Dictionaries: The Art and Craft of Lexicography, 2nd ed., Cambridge University Press, p 217.

Anagrams

• Gause, agues, gause, suage

French

Etymology

From Middle French usage, from Old French usage. By surface analysis, user +‎ -age. Compare Medieval Latin usagium.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /y.zaʒ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

Noun

usage m (plural usages)

1. usage, use
2. (lexicography) the ways and contexts in which spoken and written words are actually used, determined by a lexicographer's intuition or from corpus analysis (as opposed to correct or proper use of language, proclaimed by some authority)

Derived terms

• d'usage
• en usage
• faire usage
• hors d'usage

Related terms

• usager

See also

• descriptif, normatif

Further reading

• “usage”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Anagrams

• auges, sauge, suage

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French usage. By surface analysis, user +‎ -age.

Noun

usage m (plural usages)

1. habit; custom

Descendants

• French: usage
• → Irish: úsáid

Old French

Etymology

From user +‎ -age.

Noun

usage oblique singular, m (oblique plural usages, nominative singular usages, nominative plural usage)

1. usage; use
2. habit; custom

Descendants

• Middle French: usage
  • French: usage
  • → Irish: úsáid
• → Middle English: usage
  • → English: usage