usury

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• enPR: yo͞o'zhə-rē, IPA^(key): /ˈjuːʒəɹi/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

usury (countable and uncountable, plural usuries)

1. (countable) An exorbitant rate of interest, in excess of any legal rates or at least immorally.
2. (uncountable) The practice of lending money at such rates.
3. (uncountable, archaic) The practice of lending money at interest.
   • 4th Century BCE, Template:rftranslator Aristotle, Politics, Book I, Part X,

     "The most hated sort, and with the greatest reason, is usury, which makes a gain out of money itself, and not from the natural object of it. For money was intended to be used in exchange, but not to increase at interest."

References

• “usury” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2018.

Noun

usury (plural usurys)

1. Alternative form of usurie

References

• “ūsū̆rī(e (n.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-03-31.