usual

English

Alternative forms

uzhe, uzh, yoozh (slang, no fixed spelling)

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /ˈjuːʒʊəl/
(US) IPA^(key): /ˈjuːʒuəl/, /ˈjuːʒəl/
Audio (US): (file)
Hyphenation: u‧su‧al

Adjective

usual (comparative more usual, superlative most usual)

Most commonly occurring; typical.
The preference of a boy to a girl is a usual occurrence in some parts of China.

It is becoming more usual these days to rear children as bilingual.

Synonyms

wonted, normal, common, standard, regular, ordinary, plain, simple, typical

Antonyms

unusual, abnormal, atypical

Derived terms

Related terms

usuality

Translations

most commonly occurring

Afrikaans: alledaags, gewoon (af)
Arabic: عَادِيّ (ʕādiyy)
Armenian: սովորական (hy) (sovorakan)
Asturian: usual
Azerbaijani: adi (az)
Basque: ohiko, ohizko
Belarusian: звыча́йны (be) (zvyčájny)
Bulgarian: обичаен (bg) (običaen), обикновен (bg) (obiknoven)
Catalan: usual (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 通常 (zh) (tōngcháng)
Czech: obvyklý (cs)
Danish: admindelig, sædvanlig (da)
Dutch: gewoon (nl), alledaags (nl)
Esperanto: kutima (eo)
Estonian: tavaline (et)
Finnish: tavallinen (fi)
French: habituel (fr)/habituelle (fr)
Galician: usual
Georgian: ჩვეულებრივი (čveulebrivi)
German: gewöhnlich (de), üblich (de)
Hanunoo: adok
Hungarian: szokásos (hu), rendesen (hu)
Icelandic: venjulegur (is)
Ido: kustumala (io)
Irish: iondúil
Italian: solito (it), usuale (it), consueto (it), abituale (it)
Japanese: 通常 (ja) (つうじょう, tsūjō), いつもの (ja) (itsumo no)
Korean: 보통의 (ko) (botong'ui)
Latin: solitus, usualis (la), ūsitātus
Latvian: parasts
Livonian: irdzi
Macedonian: вообичаен (voobičaen), обичен (običen)
Marathi: नेहमीचे (nehmīce)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: vanlig (no), sedvanlig

Nynorsk: sedvanleg
Occitan: usual
Old English: ġewunelīċ
Polish: zwykły (pl)
Portuguese: usual (pt)
Romanian: uzual (ro) m or n, obișnuit (ro) m or n
Russian: обыкнове́нный (ru) (obyknovénnyj), обы́чный (ru) (obýčnyj)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: уобѝча̄јен

Roman: uobìčājen (sh)
Slovak: obvyklý
Slovene: običajen
Spanish: usual (es), habitual (es), consabido (es)
Swahili: kawaida (sw)
Swedish: vanlig (sv)
Thai: ธรรมดา (th) (tam-má-daa), เช่นเคย (chêen-kəəi), สามัญ (th) (sǎa-man)
Turkish: olağan (tr)
Ukrainian: звича́йний (zvyčájnyj)
Vietnamese: bình thường (vi)

Noun

usual (countable and uncountable, plural usuals)

(uncountable) The typical state of something, or something that is typical.
(countable, colloquial) A specific good or service (e.g. a drink) that someone typically orders.
I'll just have the usual.

Two usuals, please.

Usage notes

Sometimes colloquially shortened to the first syllable (IPA^(key): /juːʒ/), an overwhelmingly spoken-only slang word with no single widely accepted spelling (see uzhe).