Social:Usus

Usus (Latin: usus — usage; long-established rule, practice, custom) is a term referring to the common usage of linguistic units (words, idioms, forms) in a particular speech community. Usus can be contrasted with both occasional usage and prescribed standard usage. The term is used to designate usage that has wide currency and acceptance among speakers of a language, even if it diverges from the "high" literary standard.

Usus is one of the crucial terms in the research of Danish linguists Otto Jespersen and Louis Hjelmslev.