Wiktionary

O

See also: o, ö, ő, and Appendix:Variations of "o"
LetterO.svg
O U+004F, O
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O
← N
[U+004E] 		Basic Latin P →
[U+0050]
Ｏ U+FF2F, Ｏ
FULLWIDTH LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O
← Ｎ
[U+FF2E] 		Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms Ｐ →
[U+FF30]
🅾 U+1F17E, 🅾
NEGATIVE SQUARED LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O
← 🅽
[U+1F17D] 		Enclosed Alphanumeric Supplement 🅿 →
[U+1F17F]

TranslingualEdit

 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

EtymologyEdit

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)

  1. The fifteenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.

See alsoEdit

SymbolEdit

O

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

GalleryEdit

  • Letter styles

  • Normal and italic O

  • Uppercase and lowercase O in Fraktur

See alsoEdit

Other representations of O:

EnglishEdit

PronunciationEdit

Etymology 1Edit

LetterEdit

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

  1. 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)

  1. Something shaped like the letter O.
    • 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, Sydney: Ure Smith, published 1962, 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.
  2. (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.
See alsoEdit

NumberEdit

O (upper case, lower case o)

  1. 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

  2. The English vocative particle, used for direct address.
    O, Death! O, Death! Won't you spare me over til 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 762018299, 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.
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
SynonymsEdit
See alsoEdit

Etymology 3Edit

Abbreviation.

NounEdit

O (countable and uncountable, plural Os)

  1. (printing) American Library Association abbreviation of octavo, a book size (20-25 cm).
  2. (soccer) Someone associated with Leyton Orient Football Club, as a player, coach, supporter etc.
  3. (cricket) The number of overs bowled.
  4. (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 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.
  5. (slang) 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)

  1. (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

Proper nounEdit

O

  1. A surname, from Korean.

Etymology 5Edit

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

Proper nounEdit

O

  1. Alternative form of E
    • [1906, Frederick D. Cloud, Hangchow, the "City of Heaven"‎[4], Shanghai: Presbyterian Mission Press, OCLC 663395923, OL 7189168M, 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 867854887, OL 4293951M, 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 900535402, OL 9403966M, page 385:
      [...]Yang-yüeh 楊粵,⁴⁰ reaching as far as O 鄂.⁴¹
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
E — see E

AfarEdit

LetterEdit

O

  1. The fifteenth letter in the Afar alphabet.

See alsoEdit

AfrikaansEdit

PronunciationEdit

  • (letter name): IPA(key): /ʊə/

LetterEdit

O (upper case, lower case o)

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

See alsoEdit

NounEdit

O (plural O's)

  1. O

AngamiEdit

LetterEdit

O

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

See alsoEdit

AzerbaijaniEdit

LetterEdit

O upper case (lower case o)

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

See alsoEdit

BasqueEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

O (upper case, lower case o)

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

See alsoEdit

ChineseEdit

Etymology 1Edit

PronunciationEdit

Note: The zero initial /∅-/ is commonly pronounced with a ng-initial /ŋ-/ in some varieties of Cantonese, including Hong Kong Cantonese.

AdjectiveEdit

O

  1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) Short for OK (“alright”).

Etymology 2Edit

From English occupied.

PronunciationEdit

Note: The zero initial /∅-/ is commonly pronounced with a ng-initial /ŋ-/ in some varieties of Cantonese, including Hong Kong Cantonese.

AdjectiveEdit

O

  1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, slang) in a relationship
Usage notesEdit

A number may be placed after O to indicate the number of relationships a person has had, including the current one.

Derived termsEdit

DutchEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

O (capital, lowercase o)

  1. The fifteenth letter of the Dutch alphabet.

Proper nounEdit

O

  1. A surname​.
    • 1904, certificate of marriage number 9 of 1904 of Sint-Pieters-Leeuw (reproduced in: Patrick Trio ((Can we date this quote?)) Nakomelingen van Arnoldus O‎pdf)
      Op 10/02/1904 om 11:00 uur zijn voor ons Zacharias De Ro, schepen gehuwd: Theophilius O […] enerzijds en anderzijds Maria Elisabetha Troucheau […]
      On February 10, 1904 at 11 am in the presence of ourselves, Zacharias De Ro, alderman, did marry: Theophilius O […] on the one hand and on the other hand Maria Elisabetha Troucheau […]

AdverbEdit

O

  1. Abbreviation of oost; east

See alsoEdit

  • Previous letter: N
  • Next letter: P

EsperantoEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

O (upper case, lower case o)

  1. The nineteenth letter of the Esperanto alphabet, called o and written in the Latin script.

See alsoEdit

EstonianEdit

 
Estonian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia et

LetterEdit

O (upper case, lower case o)

  1. The fifteenth letter of the Estonian alphabet, called oo and written in the Latin script.

See alsoEdit

FinnishEdit

LetterEdit

O (upper case, lower case o)

  1. The fifteenth letter of the Finnish alphabet, called oo and written in the Latin script.

See alsoEdit

FrenchEdit

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

O

  1. Abbreviation of ouest; west

LetterEdit

O

  1. the fifteenth letter of the French alphabet

GalicianEdit

NounEdit

O

  1. oeste, occidente (west)

SynonymsEdit

  • (west): W

GermanEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

O (upper case, lower case o)

  1. The fifteenth letter of the German alphabet.

NounEdit

O

  1. Abbreviation of Ost; east

HungarianEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

O (upper case, lower case o)

  1. The twenty-fourth letter of the Hungarian alphabet, called o and written in the Latin script.

DeclensionEdit

Inflection (stem in long/high vowel, back harmony)
singular plural
nominative O O-k
accusative O-t O-kat
dative O-nak O-knak
instrumental O-val O-kkal
causal-final O-ért O-kért
translative O-vá O-kká
terminative O-ig O-kig
essive-formal O-ként O-kként
essive-modal — —
inessive O-ban O-kban
superessive O-n O-kon
adessive O-nál O-knál
illative O-ba O-kba
sublative O-ra O-kra
allative O-hoz O-khoz
elative O-ból O-kból
delative O-ról O-król
ablative O-tól O-któl
non-attributive
possessive - singular 		O-é O-ké
non-attributive
possessive - plural 		O-éi O-kéi
Possessive forms of O
possessor single possession multiple possessions
1st person sing. O-m O-im
2nd person sing. O-d O-id
3rd person sing. O-ja O-i
1st person plural O-nk O-ink
2nd person plural O-tok O-itok
3rd person plural O-juk O-ik

See alsoEdit

IdoEdit

LetterEdit

O (lower case o)

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

See alsoEdit

IndonesianEdit

PronunciationEdit

  • (letter name): IPA(key): /o/
  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /o/, [o], [ɔ]

LetterEdit

O (upper case, lower case o)

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

See alsoEdit

ItalianEdit

 
Italian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia it

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

O f or m (invariable, upper case, lower case o)

  1. The thirteenth letter of the Italian alphabet, called o and written in the Latin script.

NounEdit

O m

  1. Abbreviation of ovest; west

See alsoEdit

KoreanEdit

Alternative formsEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Japanese ○(まる).

SymbolEdit

O

  1. true.

AntonymsEdit

Derived termsEdit

LatvianEdit

 
Latvian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia lv

EtymologyEdit

Proposed in 1908 as part of the new Latvian spelling by the scientific commission headed by K. Mīlenbahs, which was accepted and began to be taught in schools in 1909. Prior to that, Latvian had been written in German Fraktur, and sporadically in Cyrillic.

PronunciationEdit

  This entry needs audio files. If you are a native speaker with a microphone, please record some and upload them. (For audio required quickly, visit WT:APR.)

LetterEdit

 
O

O (upper case, lower case o)

  1. The twenty-third letter of the Latvian alphabet, called o and written in the Latin script.

Usage notesEdit

In native Latvian words (and in some older borrowings), o represents the sound of IPA [uə̯] (e.g., otrs [uə̯tɾs]). In more recent borrowings, it represents the original sound of the word, i.e. [o] or [oː] (e.g., opera [oːpeɾa]).

See alsoEdit

MalayEdit

 
Malay Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia ms

PronunciationEdit

  • (Name of letter) IPA(key): [o]
  • (Phoneme) IPA(key): [o], [ɔ]

LetterEdit

O

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

See alsoEdit

NupeEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

O (upper case, lower case o)

  1. The eighteenth letter of the Nupe alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See alsoEdit

PolishEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

O (upper case, lower case o)

  1. The twentieth letter of the Polish alphabet, called o and written in the Latin script.

See alsoEdit

Further readingEdit

  • O in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • O in Polish dictionaries at PWN

PortugueseEdit

LetterEdit

O (upper case, lower case o)

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

See alsoEdit

RomaniEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

O (upper case, lower case o)

  1. (International Standard) The nineteenth letter of the Romani alphabet, written in the Latin script.
  2. (Pan-Vlax) The twentieth letter of the Romani alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See alsoEdit

RomanianEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

O (upper case, lower case o)

  1. The eighteenth letter of the Romanian alphabet, called o and written in the Latin script.

Usage notesEdit

When followed by the letter a, a diphthong representing the phoneme /o̯a/ is formed, as in foarte /ˈfo̯ar.te/.

See alsoEdit

SaanichEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

O

  1. The twenty-third letter of the Saanich alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See alsoEdit

Skolt SamiEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

O (lower case o)

  1. The twenty-fourth letter of the Skolt Sami alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See alsoEdit

SloveneEdit

 
Slovene Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sl

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

O (capital, lowercase o)

  1. The 16th letter of the Slovene alphabet. Preceded by N and followed by P.

SomaliEdit

PronunciationEdit

  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /ɔ/, /ɞ/
  • (letter name): IPA(key): /ʔɔ/

LetterEdit

O upper case (lower case o)

  1. The twenty-sixth letter of the Somali alphabet, called o and written in the Latin script.

Usage notesEdit

  • The twenty-sixth letter of the Somali alphabet, which follows Arabic abjad order. It is preceded by I and followed by U.

See alsoEdit

SpanishEdit

LetterEdit

O (upper case, lower case o)

  1. the 16th letter of the Spanish alphabet

NounEdit

O m

  1. Abbreviation of oeste; west

TurkishEdit

LetterEdit

O (upper case, lower case o)

  1. The eighteenth letter of the Turkish alphabet, called o and written in the Latin script.

See alsoEdit

VietnameseEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

O (upper case, lower case o)

  1. The seventeenth letter of the Vietnamese alphabet, called o or ô and written in the Latin script.

See alsoEdit

WelshEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

O (upper case, lower case o)

  1. The nineteenth letter of the Welsh alphabet, called o and written in the Latin script. It is preceded by N and followed by P.

MutationEdit

  • O cannot be mutated but, being a vowel, does take h-prothesis, for example with the word oren (“orange”):
Welsh mutation
radical soft nasal h-prothesis
oren unchanged unchanged horen
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

See alsoEdit

Further readingEdit

  • R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “O”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies

YorubaEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

O (upper case, lower case o)

  1. The sixteenth letter of the Yoruba alphabet, called ó and written in the Latin script.

See alsoEdit

ZuluEdit

LetterEdit

O (upper case, lower case o)

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

See alsoEdit

Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=O&oldid=67592033"