-오

See also: 오 and -오-

Korean

Etymology

See the main entry.

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [o̞]
• Phonetic hangul: [오]

Romanizations
Revised Romanization?	o
Revised Romanization (translit.)?	o
McCune–Reischauer?	o
Yale Romanization?	o

Suffix

오 • (-o)

1. Post-vowel and post-ㄹ (l) allomorphic form of 소 (-so, “semi-formal style sentence-final suffix”).

Usage notes

• For comments regarding the relationship between 소 (-so) and 오 (-o) in the imperative mood, see "Usage notes" at 소 (-so).

Middle Korean

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /o/

Harmonic pair

Yin-form	우 (-wu)
Yang-form	오 (-wo)

Suffix

오 (-wo)

1. Yang-vowel form of 우 (-wu, adverb-deriving suffix)

Etymology 2

Lenition in voiced environments. See Appendix:Koreanic reconstructions for more.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɣó/

Suffix

오〮 (-Gwó)

1. Lenited allomorphic form of 고〮 (-kwó, verbal connective suffix) (in certain voiced environments)

Usage notes

• This allomorph only occurs after coda liquid /-l/, a falling diphthong, the copula 이 (i-), or the passivizing auxiliary 디 (ti-). The velar stop is preserved before all other vowels.

Etymology 3

Lenition in voiced environments. See Appendix:Koreanic reconstructions for more.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /(ɣ)ó/

Particle

오〮 (-(G)wó)

1. Lenited allomorphic form of 고〮 (-kwo, non-polar interrogative marker) (in certain voiced environments)

Usage notes

• This allomorph is obligatory after /-j/, /-i/, or /-l/ (note that the irrealis suffix /-lQ/ is excluded here). It sometimes appears before other vowels as well.
• It was sometimes pronounced as /-ɣo/ and sometimes as /-o/, as can be perceived from orthographic variation between e.g. ᄒᆞ리〮오〮 (hò-lí-Gwó) and ᄒᆞ료〮 (hò-ly-wó).

See also

Middle Korean sentence enders
Form			Mood	Notes			Applied to 셔 (sye-, “to stand”)
	다〮 (-tá) 라〮 (-lá)		Declarative	Unmarked			셔다〮 (Yale: syètá)
	마〮 (-má)			Promissive			셔우〮마〮 (Yale: syèwúmá)
ㄴ (-n)	다〮 (-tá)		Interrogative	Realis	Obligatory for second-person (2P) subject		션다〮 (Yale: syèntá)
	가〮 (-ka)				Polar question, non-2P subject		션가〮 (Yale: syènká)
	고〮 (-kwo)				Wh-word question, non-2P subject		션고〮 (Yale: syènkwó)
ㅭ (-lq)	다〮 (-tá)			Irrealis	Obligatory for 2P subject		셜따〮 (Yale: syèlttá)
	가〮 (-ká)				Polar question, non-2P subject		셜까〮 (Yale: syèlkká)
	고〮 (-kwó)				Wh-word question, non-2P subject		셜꼬〮 (Yale: syèlkkwó)
니〮 (-ní)		아〮 (-Gá)		Realis	Non-honorific	Polar question	셔니〮아〮 (Yale: syèníGá), 셔녀〮 (Yale: syènyé)
		오〮 (-Gwó)				Non-polar question	셔니〮오〮 (Yale: syèníGwó), 셔뇨〮 (Yale: syènywó)
	ㅅ (-s)	가〮 (-ká)			Deferential	No polarity distinction	셔닛〮가〮 (Yale: syèníská)
	ᅌᅵᆺ (-ngì-s)				Highly deferential		셔니〮ᅌᅵᆺ가〮 (Yale: syèníngìská)
리〮 (-lí)		아〮 (-Gá)		Irrealis	Non-honorific	Polar question	셔리〮아〮 (Yale: syèlíGá), 셔려〮 (Yale: syèlyé)
		오〮 (-Gwó)				Non-polar question	셔리〮오〮 (Yale: syèlíGwó), 셔료〮 (Yale: syèlywó)
	ㅅ (-s)	가〮 (-ká)			Deferential	No polarity distinction	셔릿〮가〮 (Yale: syèlíská)
	ᅌᅵᆺ (-ngì-s)				Highly deferentiall		셔리〮ᅌᅵᆺ가〮 (Yale: syèlíngìská)
	라〮 (-lá)		Imperative	Ordering	Non-honorific		셔라〮 (Yale: syèlá)
	아〮쎠〮 (-ássyé) 어〮쎠〮 (-éssyé)				Deferential		셔〮쎠〮 (Yale: syéssyé)
	쇼〮셔〮 (-syósyé)				Highly deferential		셔쇼〮셔〮 (Yale: syèsyósyé)
고〮 (-kwó) 오〮 (-Gwó)	라〮 (-lá)			Requesting	Non-honorific		셔고〮라〮 (Yale: syèkwólá)
	려〮 (-lyé)				Deferential		셔고〮려〮 (Yale: syèkwólyé)
	ᅌᅵ (-ngì)	다〮 (-tá)			Highly deferential		셔고〮ᅌᅵ다〮 (Yale: syèkwóngìtá)
	져〮 (-cyé)		Propositive	Plain			셔져〮 (Yale: syècyé)
사〮 (-sá)	ᅌᅵ (-ngì)	다〮 (-tá)		Deferential			셔사〮ᅌᅵ다〮 (Yale: syèsángìtá)
ㄴ (-n)	뎌〮 (-tyé)		Exclamatory	Self-honoring			션뎌〮 (Yale: syèntyé)
ㅭ (-lq)	셔〮 (-syé)						셜쎠〮 (Yale: syèlssyé)
고〮나〮 (-kwóná)				Only sixteenth century			셔고〮나〮 (Yale: syèkwóná)
Based on 나찬연 2020, 중세 국어의 이해; Lee and Ramsey 2011, History of the Korean Language. Morphological segmentation of the verbal paradigm sometimes differs between analyses. The list is not exhaustive.