Etymograph

English

use

Use comes from Middle English use, from Old French us ‘tradition or custom’, from Latin ūsus, from ūtor, from Proto-Italic *oitōr ‘to use’.

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*oitōr1‘to use’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEūtor1
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEūsus1‘use’past participle stem of ūtor
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400us1‘tradition or custom’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500use1
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1549use1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English use
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1549, Thomas Cranmer et al., London: […] Edowardi Whitchurche […]: “From henceforth all the whole realm shall have but…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*oitōrWiktionary, English use‘to use’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEūtorWiktionary, English use
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEūsusWiktionary, English use‘use’past participle stem of ūtor
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400usWiktionary, English use‘tradition or custom’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500useWiktionary, English use
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1549useWiktionary, English use. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1549, Thomas Cranmer et al., London: […] Edowardi Whitchurche […]: “From henceforth all the whole realm shall have but…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with use, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Latin ūtor

  • utilization ← utilisation ← utiliser ← utilizzare ← utile
  • usable ← user ← ūsāre ← ūsō
  • utilisation ← utiliser ← utilizzare ← utile ← ūtilis

through Latin ūsus ‘use, custom, skill, habit’

  • usual ← usuel ← ūsuālis
  • usury ← usurie ← usurie ← ūsūria ← ūsūra

through Middle English use

8 more relatives in the full family tree

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Another origin of use

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEuti‘to use’
  2. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500usare
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400user‘use, employ, practice’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500usen
  5. Englishtodayuse

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Today it means

noun The act of using.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “use”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Italic *oitōr / use