"O" Word Origins

From the Yoruba word orí, literally meaning "head," extended to mean a person's inner spiritual essence or destiny.

From Latin oriens, "rising" — the present participle of orior, "to rise" — since the sun rises in the east, "orient" came to mean both "east" and, as a verb, "to figure out which way you're facing."

From Latin orientalis, "eastern," from oriens, "rising sun" — built on the same root as "orient."

From French orientalisme, from oriental (“eastern, Oriental”). In the sense “patronizing Western attitude” popularized by Edward Said's 1978 book Orientalism. Equivalent to Oriental + -ism.

From orient + -ate or a back-formation from orientation. Compare French orienter and Italian orientare.

From French orientation, from orienter 'to set facing east', ultimately from Latin oriens 'the rising sun, the east'. Early churches and maps were aligned eastwards, which gave the word its sense of establishing direction.

From orient (“to bring into alignment; to train”) + -ee (“forming passive agent nouns”).

Borrowed from Swedish orientera.

Borrowed from Swedish orientering, from orientera (“orient, orientate”) + -ing.

From Latin orificium, literally "the making of a mouth," combining os ("mouth") and facere ("to make").

From Japanese origami, combining ori ("fold") and kami ("paper").

From Latin origo, "beginning, source," from orior, "to rise" — the same root behind "orient" and "original."

From Latin originalis, "primitive, original," from origo, "beginning."

From French originalité, built from original + the noun-forming suffix -ity.

From original + the adverb-forming suffix -ly.

From Medieval Latin originatus, from origo, "beginning" — a later formal verb built directly on the noun "origin."

Borrowed from Latin orīginātiō, from orīgō (“to act, to commence”, stem as origin-) + -tiō.

From originate + -or.

Named after Orion, a giant hunter in Greek mythology who was placed among the stars after his death; the myth traces back through Latin Ōrīōn to Ancient Greek Ὠρίων.

From Middle English orisoun, from Anglo-Norman oreison, oresoun etc. and Old French oraisun etc., from Latin ōrātiō, ōrātiōnem (“discourse, prayer”) (whence also English oration).

Borrowed from Odia ଓଡ଼ିଆ (oṛiā). Which in turn is derived from Prakrit 𑀑𑀟𑁆𑀟𑀺𑀅 (ŏḍḍia), from Sanskrit औड्रिक (auḍrika, “relating to the Odras”), an adjective suffixed from the vriddhi of ओड्र (oḍra, “Odra”).

Anglicized from Irish Órfhlaith, from ór ("gold") + flaith ("princess").

From Italian Orlando ("Roland"), ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *Hrōþiland; a doublet of Roland.

From French Orléans, tracing back to Latin Aurelianum, named for the Roman emperor Aurelian who had the city rebuilt.

Borrowed from Russian Орлов (Orlov), related to орёл ("eagle").

From Latin Aureliacum.

From Norman ormèr/ormer, variants of French ormier, contraction of oreille-de-mer, from Late Latin *auris maris (“ear of the sea”), from Latin auris (“ear”) + mare (“sea”).

From Latin ornamentum, "equipment, adornment," from ornare, "to equip, adorn."

From ornament + -al.

From ornamental + -ist.

From Latin ornatus, past participle of ornare, "to adorn."

A dialect contraction of "ordinary" — the word originally just meant "common" or "plain," but drifted over time in American speech to mean stubborn and cranky.

From Middle English orped, orpud, from Old English orped (“grown up, adult, of full strength, stout, active, bold”), of unknown origin. Possibly from Old English or- (“without”) + pād (“tunic, cloak”), literally "without cloak, tunic-less" in the sense of "ready to fight, brave, daring" (compare English berserk), though many see this as unconvincing.

From Greek orphanós, "without parents," ultimately from a very old root shared with the Latin word for "orphaned" and the Old English word for "heir" — orphans, ironically, were once linked linguistically to inheritance.

Recorded since the 1570s, built from orphan + -age.

From orphan + -hood. PIE word *h₃órbʰos

From Greek Orpheus, a name of uncertain origin possibly related to orphanós, "orphan."

From Middle English orte, from Old English *oreta (“that which is left after eating”, literally “out-eat”); for more, see Old English or-, English eat. Cognate with Middle Low German orte (“refuse of food”), Middle Dutch ooraete, ooreete, Low German ort (“ort”), Middle High German urez, German Uräß and also German Ort (“quarter (of a thaler, etc)”). As the term for a coin, probably borrowed from the central European languages which used it: German Ort (“quarter (of a thaler)”), Polish ort (“coin”), etc.

Borrowed from Spanish Ortega.

Built from orthodontic (from Greek orthos, "straight," + odous, "tooth") plus the -ist suffix for a person who practices something.

From Greek orthodoxos, combining orthos ("straight, correct") and doxa ("opinion") — literally "having the correct opinion."

From Greek orthodoxia, built the same way as "orthodox" — orthos ("correct") + doxa ("opinion").

From Ancient Greek ὀρθοέπεια (orthoépeia), possibly via Latin orthoepia, from Ancient Greek ὀρθός (orthós, “correct”) + ἔπος (épos, “word”) + -ία (-ía, “-y”).

From Middle French orthogonal, in turn from Medieval Latin orthogōnālis and Latin orthogōnius (“right-angled”), ultimately from Ancient Greek ὀρθογώνιος (orthogṓnios, “rectangular”). By surface analysis, ortho- + -gon + -al.

The noun is derived from Late Middle English ortografie, ortographie (“spelling”) [and other forms], and then either: * from Anglo-Norman ortografie, Middle French orthographie, ortografie, ortographie (“correct spelling; orthographic projection”) (compare Old French ortografie; modern French orthographe (“spelling, orthography”), orthographie (“orthographic project, orthography”)); or * from their etymon Latin orthographia (“correct spelling; building elevation”), from Koine Greek ὀρθογραφία (orthographía, “correct spelling”), from Ancient Greek ορθο- (ortho-, prefix meaning ‘right, proper; upright’) (from ὀρθός (orthós, “straight; erect, upright; correct, true”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃erdʰ- (“to grow, increase; high; upright”)) + -γραφίᾱ (-graphíā, suffix meaning ‘drawing; writing’) (from γρᾰ́φω (grắphō, “to cut into, scratch; to write”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- (“to carve”)). The English word is analyzable as ortho- (prefix meaning ‘proper, right; straight’) + -graphy (suffix denoting something written or otherwise represented in a specified manner, or about a specified subject). The verb is derived from the noun. First use appears before c.

From Greek orthos 'straight, correct' and paidion 'child', via French orthopédie. The name reflects the field's origins in correcting skeletal deformities in children.

From French orthopédique, built from Greek orthos ("straight") and pais/paid- ("child") — originally coined for correcting deformities in children.

Borrowed from Spanish Ortiz.