O

From the Etruscan letter 𐌏 (o, “o”), from the Ancient Greek letter Ο (O, “omikron”), derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤏‎ (ʿ, “ʿayin”), from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓁹.

LetterEdit

O (lower case o)

The fifteenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.

SymbolEdit

O

(chemistry) Symbol for oxygen.
(sports) success
Coordinate terms: X (fail), - (skip)
(mathematics) big O: a class of functions asymptotically bounded from above by a specific function, up to a constant factor
(linear algebra, group theory) orthogonal group
(linguistics) A wildcard for a rounded vowel or a back vowel
synonyms: U

GalleryEdit

Letter styles
Uppercase and lowercase versions of O, in normal and italic type
Uppercase and lowercase O in Fraktur

EnglishEdit

PronunciationEdit

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əʊ/
Audio (RP) (file)
(General American) IPA^(key): /oʊ/
Audio (GA) (file)
Rhymes: -əʊ, -oʊ

Etymology 1Edit

LetterEdit

O (upper case, lower case o, plural Os or O's)

The fifteenth letter of the English alphabet, called o and written in the Latin script.
- 1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 421:
  "Supposing somebody sees you, with all those flowers too? Supposing somebody writes him a letter? Ooooh!" (a pure round open Tamil O.)

NounEdit

O (plural Os or O's)

Something shaped like the letter O.
- 1938, Norman Lindsay, chapter XX, in Age of Consent, London: T[homas] Werner Laurie […], →OCLC, page 213:
  She was lying in the lee of a fowlhouse in a crumpled posture, as if cohesion had been detached from her joints, which lobbed her in an untidy heap, like a lot of old bones, tied together with string. Her skull was hitched under her humped shoulders and her fallen jaw made a lipless O of her mouth, giving it an expression of imbecile astonishment.
(uncountable) A blood type that lacks A or B antigens and may only receive transfusions of similar type O blood, but may donate to all (neglecting Rh factor). Synonym: universal donor.

NumberEdit

O (upper case, lower case o)

The ordinal number fifteenth, derived from this letter of the English alphabet, called o and written in the Latin script.

Etymology 2Edit

From Middle English O, o, from Old English o, from Latin o and Ancient Greek ὦ (ô, interjection). Featured prominently in William Tyndale's 1525 translation of the New Testament.

Alternative formsEdit

o
ô (obsolete)

ParticleEdit

O

The English vocative particle, used for direct address.
O Death! O Death! Won't you spare me over till another year? - part of the refrain from the American folk song "A Conversation with Death".
- 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Romans ij:[1, 3], folio cc, verso:
  Therfore arte thou inexcuſable o man whoſoever thou be that iudgeſt. For in that ſame where in thou iudgeſt another / thou cõdemneſt thy ſilfe. For thou that iudgeſt doest evẽ the ſame ſilfe thynges. […] Thynkeſt thou O man that iudgeſt them which do ſoche thyngꝭ and yet doſt evẽ the very ſame / that thou ſhalt eſcape the iudgemẽt of God?
- c. 1810-1820?, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Notes on Macbeth
  O! the affecting beauty of the death of Cawdor, and the presentimental speech of the king: […]
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:O.

Usage notesEdit

The word O is typically written in upper case in modern usage.
O is often used in translations from languages which have the vocative case.
Although it is not strictly archaic, the particle is sometimes used archaizingly. It conveys a formal or reverential tone.

SynonymsEdit

oh
hey
yo
ah

Derived termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

a vocative particle

Ancient Greek: ὦ (ô)
Arabic: يَا‎ (yā), أَيُّهَا‎ m (ʔayyuhā), أَيَّتُهَا‎ f (ʔayyatuhā)
Egyptian Arabic: يا‎ (yā)
Armenian: ով (ov)
Belarusian: о (o)
Catalan: oh, o
Chinese:
Mandarin: 噢 (zh) (ō), 喔 (zh) (ō), 啊 (zh) (ā), 噫 (zh) (yì)(literary)
Finnish: oi
French: ô
German: o
Hebrew: הו‎ (ho)
Irish: a
Old Irish: a, á
Italian: o, oh
Japanese: よ (yo), ああ (ā)
Korean: 여 (yeo), 시여 (siyeo), 아 (a)
Latin: o
Malay: wahai
Persian: ای‎ (ey), الا‎ (alâ)
Polish: o
Portuguese: ó
Russian: о (o)
Sanskrit: हे (he)
Sicilian: o, oh
Spanish: oh, oy m
Swedish: o
Tagalog: oh (formally)
Tocharian B: yśe
Turkish: ey, ya
Ukrainian: о (o)
Urdu: اَے‎ (ai)
Vietnamese: hỡi, lạy

Etymology 3Edit

Abbreviation.

PrepositionEdit

O

(stenoscript) Abbreviation of out, letter/sound sequence out.

Derived termsEdit

aO 'about'

NounEdit

O (countable and uncountable, plural Os)

(printing) American Library Association abbreviation of octavo, a book size (20-25 cm).
(soccer) Someone associated with Leyton Orient Football Club, as a player, coach, supporter etc.
(cricket) The number of overs bowled.
(slang) Orgasm.
Synonym: big O
- 1998 October 17, M6968, “STORY: The Violation of Sunny a wrestling story, by Wonder Mike”, in alt.sex.stories, Usenet‎^[1], retrieved November 22, 2014:
  Sunny felt some cold and wet press against her pussy, it startled her, then it's^[sic] tongue went deep inside of her, she had been eaten out before, but never this could, who ever was doing it was a real pro, and had to have the longest tongue in the world it was buried at least three inches inside of her and was taking long, hard strokes, it was trying to get even deeper, it was only seconds before she started shaking from her first O.
- 1999 March 31, JT aka GF, “Re: mary p., hex and going "downtown"”, in alt.psst.hoy, Usenet‎^[2], retrieved November 22, 2014:
  Further on, when she's about to reach her first O, the taste turns from no taste to champagne-like.
- 2010, Lonnie Hicks, Einstein, Religion, Politics and Literature, page 308:
  She thought you could get pregnant from tonguing when kissing; about her first O and how it scared her; how she looked in the mirror afterwards to see if she had changed; about how scared she was when it came time to deliver the baby.
- 2011 June 14, wtw, “{wtw} - "4someWithFriends" (1/1)”, in alt.sex.stories, Usenet‎^[3], retrieved November 22, 2014:
  Now my friend was fingering my wife and licking her clit. My wife reached her first O of the night.
(slang, uncountable) Opium.
- 1952, Collier's: Incorporating Features of the American Magazine (page 22)
  We lay on our stomachs on the living-room floor in a circle around our host, a skinny little man who said he'd been smoking O for 20 years.

AdjectiveEdit

O (not comparable)

(historical) Abbreviation of morally offensive. (film classification of the National Legion of Decency)

Etymology 4Edit

Korean 오(伍) (O) or 오(吳) (O). Doublet of Wu.

Alternative formsEdit

Oh, Oe, Au

Proper nounEdit

O

A surname from Korean.

Etymology 5Edit

From Mandarin 鄂 (È) Wade–Giles romanization: O⁴.

Proper nounEdit

O

Alternative form of E
- [1906, Frederick D. Cloud, Hangchow, the "City of Heaven"‎^[4], Shanghai: Presbyterian Mission Press, →OCLC, →OL, page 53:
  ACCORDING to various inscriptions about this famous temple we are told that it was erected to the memory of Ya Fei, "An Unswerving Guardian to the Heir-Apparent," of the Sung dynasty; "A Loyal-to-the-end Minister," who came from the ancient state of O-Kuo, the present Wu Ch'ang-fu of Hupei; and that it was erected by the Emperor Hsiao Tsung as an atonement for the weakness and follies of his father, Kao Tsung, toward a faithful servant of the empire who came to his untimely death through the diabolical schemes of men in high estate. Moreover, that after his death and burial, when the empire came to appreciate his great services to the people, the posthumous title of " Prince of O-Kuo" was bestowed upon his sacred memory.]
- 1976, Noel Barnard, The Proceedings of a Symposium on Scientific Methods of Research in the Study of Ancient Chinese Bronzes and Southeast Asian Metal and Other Archaeological Artifacts, October 6-10, 1975, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne‎^[5], →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 107:
  ⁶There are actually several geographical identifications proposed for the State of O: Wu-ch'ang in Hupei, Huai-ch'ing in Honan, and Fu-fang, Shensi (in the south-east thereof). As two inscriptions connected with the State of O refer to invasions....
- 2006, Ssu-ma Ch'ien, William H. Nienhauser, Jr., editor, The Grand Scribe's Records,‎^[6], volume V.1, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 385:
  [...]Yang-yüeh 楊粵,⁴⁰ reaching as far as O 鄂.⁴¹

Related termsEdit

O-ch'eng, O-chou

TranslationsEdit

E — see E

AfarEdit

LetterEdit

O

The fifteenth letter in the Afar alphabet.

AfrikaansEdit

PronunciationEdit

(letter name): IPA^(key): /ʊə/

LetterEdit

O (upper case, lower case o)

The fifteenth letter of the Afrikaans alphabet, written in the Latin script.

NounEdit

O (plural O's, diminutive O'tjie)

O

AngamiEdit

LetterEdit

O

The eleventh letter of the Angami alphabet, written in the Latin script.

AzerbaijaniEdit

LetterEdit

O upper case (lower case o)

The twenty-first letter of the Azerbaijani alphabet, written in the Latin script.

BasqueEdit

PronunciationEdit

IPA^(key): /o/, [o̞]

LetterEdit

O (upper case, lower case o)

The sixteenth letter of the Basque alphabet, called o and written in the Latin script.