Usest

Usest is an archaic English verb form, used as the second-person singular present tense of the verb to use. It belongs to the thou-forms of Early Modern English, a period when thou was commonly paired with verbs ending in -est. In modern English, the standard second-person singular present is you use, and thou has largely disappeared from everyday speech. Consequently, usest appears mainly in historical texts, poetry, religious writings, and works seeking an archaic or biblical tone.

Spelling and usage vary by period and author. The form is often written as thou usest or thou useest, with the exact rendering reflecting orthographic conventions of the time. In some sources you may also encounter other inflections such as useest, depending on the scribe’s or author’s preference.

Origin and grammar: the verb use comes from Old French user, itself from Latin uti, meaning to employ. The English inflection pattern for thou uses the -est ending as part of a broader Germanic grammatical tradition. The shift away from thou forms toward the uniform you occurred gradually in Early Modern English and into contemporary usage.

Example: Thou usest thy tools with care and patience. This sentence illustrates how usest would function as the present-tense form addressing a single informant in archaic English. Today, such usage is typically confined to historical or stylistic contexts.