Etymology

usury

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Today it means: An exorbitant rate of interest, in excess of any legal rates or at least immorally. Full definition →

Middle English usurie ← Latin ūsūria
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromūsūria
  2. Middle English · inherited fromusurie
  3. English todayusury

From Middle English usurie, from Latin ūsūria, from ūsūra (“lending at interest, usury”) from ūsus (“use”), from stem of ūtī (“to use”). Compare usurp and use.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.