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us·ance (yzəns)
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n.
1. The length of time, established by custom and varying between countries, that is allowed for payment of a foreign bill of exchange.
2. Use.
3. Usage; custom.
4. Interest paid on borrowed money.
[Middle English, usage, from Old French, probably from Vulgar Latin *ūsantia, from *ūsāns, *ūsant-, present participle of *ūsāre, frequentative of Latin ūtī.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2020 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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