"O" Word Origins

oaf

Old Norse

A variant of the older word "auf", probably from Old Norse alfr ("elf") — originally used for a changeling child left by fairies, later broadening to any clumsy or foolish person.

Oahu

Origin

From Hawaiian Oʻahu.

oak

Old English

From Old English ac, going back through Proto-Germanic to a very old Indo-European root for the oak tree.

Oakes

Origin

From the plural of oak. The surname could also derived from a partial translation of the Irish surname Mac Dubhdara (“son of Dubhdara”), a personal name composed of the elements dubh (“black”) and darach, genitive of dair (“oak”).

Oakland

Origin

From oak + land.

oakleigh

Origin

Variant of Oakley, from Old English āc (“oak”) + lēah (“woodland clearing, glade”), thus a clearing in an oak forest; equivalent to oak + -leigh "lea".

Oakley

Old English

From Old English āc ("oak") + lēah ("woodland clearing").

oaks

Origin · 1700

Named after the Oaks estate near Epsom, England, where the race was first run in the 18th century.

oakum

Origin

From Late Middle English okom, okome (“oakum”) [and other forms], from Old English ācumba (“oakum”, literally “that which has been combed out, off-combings”) [and other forms], from ācemban (“to comb out”), from Proto-Germanic *uz- (from Proto-Indo-European *ud-s-, *ūd- (“out; up”), or *h₂ew- (“away from, off”)) + *kambijaną (“to comb”) (ultimately from *ǵómbʰos (“row of teeth; tooth; peg”), *ǵembʰ- (“nail; tooth; to gnaw through; to pierce”)). See also out and comb.

oakwood

Old English

From Old English āc wudu, a straightforward combination of "oak" and "wood."

oar

Old English

From Old English ar, from Proto-Germanic airo, meaning "oar".

oarlock

Origin

From oar + lock.

oasis

Ancient Greek

From Late Latin oasis, from Ancient Greek oasis, ultimately from an Egyptian word for a fertile hollow.

oat

Old English

From Old English ate, tracing back through Proto-Germanic to a root meaning "to swell" — likely referring to the swelling grain.

Oates

Germanic

From Old Norman Ode/Odes, a Germanic name meaning "wealth"; in some cases an anglicization of the Irish surname Ó Cuirc.

oath

Old English

From Old English ath, from Proto-Germanic aithaz, meaning "oath".

oatmeal

Middle English

From Middle English otemele, combining ote ("oat") and mele ("meal, ground grain").

Oaxaca

Nahuatl

Named after the city and state of Oaxaca in Mexico, itself from a Nahuatl place name referring to a nearby hill.

ob

Latin

From Latin ob, originally an abbreviation of obolus, a small ancient coin; the modern shortened senses (observation, objection) are simply clipped forms of the longer English words.

Obama

Origin

As a Luo surname, a corruption of the by-name Mobam, "born with a crooked back."

obdurate

Origin

First attested in the 1450s, in Middle English; inherited from Middle English obdurat(e), borrowed from Latin obdūrātus (“hardened”), perfect passive participle of obdūrō (“to harden”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from ob- (“against”) + dūrō (“to harden, render hard”), from dūrus (“hard”). Compare durable, endure.

OBE

English

An initialism, chiefly of Officer of the Order of the British Empire, an order founded in 1917.

obeah

Origin

Uncertain; apparently from a Caribbean creole, probably ultimately from a West African language. The Oxford English Dictionary points to Igbo abià (“knowledge, wisdom”), obìa (“doctor, healer”). Cognate of Aukan obiya, Saramaccan obia, and Sranan Tongo obia.

obeche

Origin

From Edo obeche.

obedience

Latin

From Old French obedience, from Latin oboedientia, related to obedire, "to obey".

obedient

Latin

From Old French obedient, from Latin oboediens, "obeying" — from the same root as obey.

obeisance

Origin

From Middle English obeisaunce (“obedience, obeisance”), from Old French obeïssance, derived from obeïssant (“obedient”), participle of obeïr (“to obey”), from Latin oboediō, obēdiō; ob- (“to, for”) + audiō (“to hear”). Cognate with obedience.

obelisk

Latin

From Latin obeliscus, from Greek obeliskos, "little spit/needle" — a diminutive of obelos.

Oberoi

Origin

Borrowed from Punjabi ਓਬਰਾਇ (obarāi).

Oberon

Old French

From Old French Alberon, a partial loan translation of Middle High German Alberich, meaning "elf king."

obese

Latin

From Latin obesus, "having eaten one's way to fatness" — from ob- ("away") + edere ("to eat").

obesity

Latin

From French obesite, from Latin obesitas, "fatness."

obey

Latin

From Old French obeir, from Latin oboedire — literally "to listen toward," from ob- + audire ("to hear"). Related to audient.

obfuscate

Latin

From Latin obfuscare "to darken", from ob- "over" and fuscus "dark, dusky".

obi

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese obi, "belt/sash."

obit

Latin

From Latin obitus, "a going down, death," from obire, "to go down, to die."

obituary

Medieval Latin

From Medieval Latin obituarius, built on Latin obitus ("death, a going down") plus the suffix -arius.

object

Medieval Latin

From Medieval Latin obiectum, literally "thrown against," from Latin obicere ("to throw in the way of"), from ob- + iacere ("to throw").

objection

Latin

From Old French objeccion, from Latin obiectio, built on the same root as object.

objectionable

Origin

From objection + -able.

objective

Medieval Latin

From Medieval Latin obiectivus, built on the same root as object.

objectivity

Origin

From objective + -ity.

objector

Origin

Partly from Latin obiector and partly from object + -or.

objurgate

Origin

Borrowed from Latin obiūrgātus, perfect passive participle of obiūrgō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from ob- (“to, against”) + iūrgō (“to dispute, chide”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵeti.

objurgation

Origin

From Latin obiūrgō.

oblast

Origin

From a Slavic language, probably Russian о́бласть (óblastʹ, “region, province”), borrowed from Old Church Slavonic область (oblastĭ), from Proto-Slavic *obolstь, from earlier *obvolstь, *obvoldtь, a compound of *o(b)- (“over”) + *volstь (“rule, power, authority”), thus originally probably meaning "a region ruled over". Compare Proto-Slavic *obvoldati (“to rule”).

oblate

Origin

From French oblat and its source, Ecclesiastical Latin oblātus (“person dedicated to religious life”), nominalization of oblātus, perfect passive participle of offerō (“to offer”); see -ate (noun-forming suffix).

oblation

Origin

From Middle English oblacioun, from Old French oblacion, from Latin oblātiō (“offering”), from offerō (“to offer, present”). By surface analysis, oblate + -ion.