O

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word O. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word O, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say O in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word O you have here. The definition of the word O will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofO, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.

O U+004F, O
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O
N
Basic Latin P

Translingual

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology

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.

Letter

O (lower case o)

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

See also

Symbol

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

See also

The template Template:Letter does not use the parameter(s):
Character=O
Please see Module:checkparams for help with this warning.

Other representations of O:

English

Pronunciation

(Name of letter):

Etymology 1

Letter

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.)

Noun

O (plural Os or O's)

  1. Something shaped like the letter O.
    • 1938, Norman Lindsay, chapter XX, in Age of Consent, London: T 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.
  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 also

Number

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 2

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

Alternative forms

  • o
  • ô (obsolete)

Particle

O

  1. The 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 notes
  • 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 terms
Translations

Noun

O (plural Oes)

  1. An utterance of the vocative O.
See also

Etymology 3

Abbreviation.

Preposition

O

  1. (stenoscript) Abbreviation of out, letter/sound sequence out.
Derived terms
  • aO 'about'

Noun

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), 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), 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), 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, 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.

Adjective

O (not comparable)

  1. (historical) Abbreviation of morally offensive. (film classification of the National Legion of Decency)
  2. (Judaism) Abbreviation of Orthodox.

Etymology 4

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

Alternative forms

Proper noun

O

  1. A surname from Korean.

Etymology 5

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

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Proper noun

O

  1. A surname from Mandarin Chinese.
  2. Alternative form of E (Ancient Chinese Kingdom)
    • , 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.]
    • 1944, Harold Burgoyne Rattenbury, China, My China, →OCLC, page 51:
      In ancient times Wuchang was the capital city of the Kingdom of O. In Manchu times it was the residence of the Viceroy of the two provinces of Hupeh and Hunan. Since then its fortunes have changed with changing politics.
    • 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, →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, Ch'ien Ssu-ma, edited by William H. Nienhauser, Jr., The Grand Scribe's Records,, volume V.1, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 385:
      [] Yang-yüeh 楊粵,⁴⁰ reaching as far as O .⁴¹ [] He then enthroned his elder son K'ang ⁴³ as King of Kou Tan 句亶,⁴⁴ his middle song Hung as King of O ,⁴⁵ and his younger son Chih-tz'u 執疵 as King of Yüeh-chang 越章.⁴⁶
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:O.
Translations

Etymology 6

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

From Hokkien (, dark) or Teochew (ou1).

Pronunciation

Adjective

O (not comparable)

  1. (Singapore, colloquial, after kopi (coffee) or teh (tea)) With sugar and no condensed milk added.
    • 2003, Ixus, soc.culture.singapore (Usenet):
      Better try their kopi-o tarik. Our version nowadays taste like cough medicine. LOL!

Afar

Letter

O

  1. The fifteenth letter in the Afar alphabet.

See also

Afrikaans

Pronunciation

  • (letter name): IPA(key): /ʊə/

Letter

O (upper case, lower case o)

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

See also

Noun

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

  1. O

Angami

Letter

O

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

See also

Azerbaijani

Letter

O upper case (lower case o)

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

See also

Basque

Pronunciation

Letter

O (upper case, lower case o)

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

See also

Central Franconian

Etymology

  • /ɔ/ is from Middle High German o in most closed syllables, in some dialects also in open syllables.
  • /o/ is from u in most closed syllables.
  • /ɔː/ is from ā; from o before certain consonants; in eastern Moselle Franconian from ou.
  • /oː/ is from uo in Ripuarian and northern Moselle Franconian; from ou in Ripuarian and northwestern Moselle Franconian; from ō in southern Moselle Franconian; in some Moselle Franconian dialects from o in open syllables.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): (short open) /ɔ/, (short closed) /o/, (long open) /ɔː/, (long closed) /oː/

Letter

O

  1. A letter in the German-based alphabet of Central Franconian.
  2. A letter in the Dutch-based alphabet of Central Franconian.

Usage notes

  • In the Dutch-based spelling, short closed /o/ is represented by ó, long open /ɔː/ by ao.

Chinese

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Adjective

O

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

Etymology 2

From English occupied.

Pronunciation

Adjective

O

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

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

Derived terms

Etymology 3

Initialism of English orientation.

Pronunciation

Noun

O

  1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, university slang) orientation camp
Synonyms
Derived terms

Etymology 4

Pronunciation 1


Letter

O

  1. The fifteenth letter of the Latin alphabet.

Derived terms

Pronunciation 2

Letter

O

  1. The fifteenth letter used in Pinyin.
Usage notes
  • The pronunciation above are only used while referring to letters in Pinyin. They are not used in other context (such as English).

Dutch

Pronunciation

Letter

O (capital, lowercase o)

  1. the fifteenth letter of the Dutch alphabet

Proper noun

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 O)
      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 

Adverb

O

  1. Abbreviation of oost; east

See also

  • Previous letter: N
  • Next letter: P

Elfdalian

Alternative forms

Letter

O (upper case O, lower case o)

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

Esperanto

Pronunciation

Letter

O (upper case, lower case o)

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

See also

Estonian

Estonian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia et

Letter

O (upper case, lower case o)

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

See also

Finnish

Etymology

The Finnish orthography using the Latin script was based on those of Swedish, German and Latin, and was first used in the mid-16th century. No earlier script is known. See the Wikipedia article on Finnish for more information, and O for information on the development of the glyph itself.

Letter

O (upper case, lower case o)

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

See also

Symbol

O

  1. (linguistics) Either the vowel o /o/ or ö /ø/, depending on vowel harmony.

Usage notes

Used in linguistic descriptions in Finnish. For example, a Finnish grammar could use -tOn to refer to the suffix -ton (in e.g. mauton) or -tön (in e.g. ääretön).

French

Pronunciation

Noun

O

  1. Abbreviation of ouest; west

Letter

O

  1. the fifteenth letter of the French alphabet

Galician

Noun

O

  1. oeste, occidente (west)

Synonyms

  • (west): W

German

Pronunciation

Letter

O (upper case, lower case o)

  1. The fifteenth letter of the German alphabet.

Noun

O

  1. Abbreviation of Ost; east

Hawaiian

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Letter

O

  1. The fourth letter of the Hawaiian alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

Hungarian

Pronunciation

Letter

O (upper case, lower case o)

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

Declension

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 also

Icelandic

Letter

O (lower case o)

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

See also

Ido

Letter

O (lower case o)

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

See also

Indonesian

Pronunciation

Letter

O (upper case, lower case o)

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

See also

Irish

Letter

O (upper case, lower case o)

  1. The thirteenth letter of the Irish alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

Italian

Italian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia it

Pronunciation

Letter

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.

Noun

O m

  1. Abbreviation of ovest; west

See also

Kashubian

Etymology

The Kashubian orthography is based on the Latin alphabet. No earlier script is known. See the Kashubian alphabet article on Wikipedia for more, and O for development of the glyph itself.

Letter

O (upper case, lower case o)

  1. The twentieth letter of the Kashubian alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

Korean

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Japanese (まる).

Symbol

O (O)

  1. true.

Antonyms

  • X (X)

Derived terms

Latin

Letter

O (upper case, lower case o)

  1. A letter in the Latin alphabet, representing the vowels /o/ and /oː/

Usage notes

  • Historical Latin texts did not generally distinguish short and long vowels orthographically. In modern texts and editions of older texts, the vowels are typically written ⟨O⟩ and ⟨Ō⟩ to mark the length distinction.

See also


Latvian

Latvian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia lv

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

This entry needs an audio pronunciation. If you are a native speaker with a microphone, please record this word. The recorded pronunciation will appear here when it's ready.

Letter

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 notes

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

See also

Limburgish

Etymology 1

Letter

O (upper case, lower case o)

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

Etymology 2

From earlier ou, from Old Limburgish ouga, from Proto-West Germanic *augā, from Proto-Germanic *augô.

Pronunciation

Noun

O n (plural Owwe, diminutive Öögeltje) (Eupen)

  1. (anatomy) eye
  2. (on plants, esp. potatoes, grapevines and fruit trees) germ, bud; eye (potato)
  3. (on dice) dot, pip, spot
  4. (of a cyclonic storm) eye

Etymology 3

Nominalized form of o f (old).

Pronunciation

Noun

O f (plural O, masculine Auwe) (Eupen)

  1. old woman

Malay

Malay Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia ms

Pronunciation

Letter

O

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

See also

Letter

O (lower case o)

  1. A letter of the Navajo alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

Nupe

Pronunciation

Letter

O (upper case, lower case o)

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

See also

Polish

Etymology

The Polish orthography is based on the Latin alphabet. No earlier script is known. See the history of Polish orthography article on Wikipedia for more, and O for development of the glyph itself.

Pronunciation

Letter

O (upper case, lower case o)

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

See also

Portuguese

Letter

O (upper case, lower case o)

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

See also

Romani

Pronunciation

Letter

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 also

Romanian

Pronunciation

Letter

O (upper case, lower case o)

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

Usage notes

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

See also

Saanich

Pronunciation

Letter

O

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

See also

Scottish Gaelic

Letter

O (upper case, lower case o)

  1. The thirteenth letter of the Scottish Gaelic alphabet, written in the Latin script. It is preceded by n and followed by p. Its traditional name is onn or oir (gorse).

See also

Silesian

Etymology

The Silesian orthography is based on the Latin alphabet. No earlier script is known. See the Silesian language article on Wikipedia for more, and O for development of the glyph itself.

Letter

O (upper case, lower case o)

  1. The nineteenth letter of the Silesian alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

Skolt Sami

Pronunciation

Letter

O (lower case o)

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

See also

Slovene

Slovene Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sl

Letter

O (capital, lowercase o)

  1. The sixteenth letter of the Slovene alphabet, written in the Latin script.
  2. The twenty-second letter of the Slovene alphabet (Resian), written in the Latin script.
  3. The seventeenth letter of the Slovene alphabet (Natisone Valley dialect), written in the Latin script.

Somali

Pronunciation

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

Letter

O upper case (lower case o)

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

Usage notes

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

See also

Spanish

Letter

O (upper case, lower case o)

  1. the 16th letter of the Spanish alphabet

Noun

O m

  1. Abbreviation of oeste; west

Swedish

Letter

O (upper case, lower case o)

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

See also

Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish O. Each pronunciation has a different source:

  • Filipino alphabet pronunciation is influenced by English O.
  • Abakada alphabet pronunciation is influenced by the Baybayin character (u).
  • Abecedario pronunciation is from Spanish O.

Pronunciation

  • (Standard Tagalog)
    • IPA(key): /ˈʔo/ (letter name)
      • Rhymes: -o
    • IPA(key): /ˈʔow/ (letter name, Filipino alphabet alternative)
    • IPA(key): /ˈo/ (phoneme, stressed or unstressed)
      • Rhymes: -o
  • Syllabification: O

Letter

O (upper case, lower case o, Baybayin spelling )

  1. The seventeenth letter of the Tagalog alphabet (the Filipino alphabet), called o and written in the Latin script.
  2. The thirteenth letter of the Tagalog alphabet (the Abakada alphabet), called o and written in the Latin script.
  3. (historical) The eighteenth letter of the Tagalog alphabet (the Abecedario), called o and written in the Latin script.

See also

Further reading

  • O”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018

Turkish

Letter

O (upper case, lower case o)

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

See also

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

Letter

O (upper case, lower case o)

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

Welsh

Pronunciation

Letter

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.

Mutation

  • O cannot be mutated but, being a vowel, does take h-prothesis, for example with the word oren (orange):
Mutated forms of oren
radical soft nasal h-prothesis
oren unchanged unchanged horen

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

See also

Further reading

  • 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

Yoruba

Pronunciation

Letter

O (upper case, lower case o)

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

See also

Zulu

Letter

O (upper case, lower case o)

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

See also