"O" Word Origins

Ojai

Origin

From Ventureño ʼawhaʼy, meaning "moon."

OK

Origin · 1839

Its exact origin is debated, but the most widely accepted story traces it to a 1839 Boston newspaper fad for joke misspellings — "oll korrect" for "all correct" — abbreviated to OK, which then got a huge popularity boost from Martin Van Buren's 1840 presidential campaign (his nickname was "Old Kinderhook").

oka

French

The unit of weight traces back through French and Ottoman Turkish to an old word for a small measure, and is a distant relative of "ounce" and "inch."

Okada

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese 岡田 (Okada).

Okamoto

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese 岡本 (Okamoto).

oker

Origin

From Middle English oker, okur, okir, okyr, ocker, from Old Norse ókr (“usury”), from Proto-Germanic *wōkraz (“progeny, earnings, profit”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewg- (“to add, increase”). Cognate with Scots ocker (“usury”), Icelandic ókur (“usury”), Swedish ocker (“usury”), German Wucher (“usury”), Dutch woeker (“usury”), Old English wōcor (“increase, growth, fruit, usury”), Gothic 𐍅𐍉𐌺𐍂𐍃 (wōkrs, “interest, usury, tax”), Latin augere (“to increase”). More at eke, wax.

okey

Turkish

Borrowed directly from the Turkish name for the game.

Oki

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese 大木 (Ōki).

Okie

Origin

A shortened, informal form of "Oklahoma" with the diminutive ending "-ie."

Okinawa

Japanese

From Japanese 沖縄 (Okinawa).

Oklahoma

Origin

From the Choctaw words okla ("people") and homa ("red"), together meaning roughly "red people".

oklahoman

Origin

From Oklahoma + -an.

okra

Origin

Traces back to a West African language, likely Igbo, and arrived in English via the transatlantic slave trade, alongside the plant itself.

Oktoberfest

German

German for "October festival" — although it actually starts in September, the name stuck from its original date.

Okuda

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese 奥田 (Okuda).

OL

Origin

From obsolete German Ol- (in Ol-Verbindungen and Olgruppen, coined by Alfred Werner in 1907), from -ol (“-ol”).

Ola

Spanish

From Yoruba ọlá ("honor"), or as a surname from Spanish/Basque ola ("forge").

Olaf

Old Norse

Derived from Old Norse Óláfr.

old

Old English

From Old English eald/ald ("aged, ancient"), going back through Proto-Germanic to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "grown, tall" — the same deep root that gives us "elder" and "eld".

old-fashioned

English

A compound of old and fashioned, in the older sense of fashion meaning 'style or manner'.

oldbie

Origin

From old + -bie, coined as an antonym for newbie.

olden

Middle English

From Middle English olden, originally a form of "old" that later came to be read as "old" plus the suffix "-en".

older

Origin

Variant of Alder.

oldie

Origin

Formed from "old" plus the informal, affectionate suffix "-ie," the same pattern seen in words like "sweetie."

Olds

Origin

Formed from "old" plus the plural "-s", echoing older phrases like "old folks".

oldster

Origin

From old + -ster, modelled after youngster. Attested from early 19th c.

ole

Spanish

Borrowed from Spanish olé, a traditional shout of encouragement or approval, especially at bullfights and flamenco performances.

Oleg

Old Norse

Borrowed from Russian Оле́г, a Varangian name from Old Norse Helgi ("holy").

oleo

Origin

Ellipsis of oleo strut.

oleomargarine

Origin

From French oléomargarine, from oléo- (“oleo-”) + margarine (“margarin”).

olfactory

Latin

A learned borrowing from Latin olfactorius, built from olere ("to smell") and facere ("to make").

Olga

Old Norse

From Old East Slavic Ólĭga, a form of Helga, from Old Norse heilagr ("holy").

olha

Origin

Doublet of Helga.

olibanum

Origin

Borrowed from Medieval Latin olibanum, from Latin oleum libani, the first word meaning oil and the second from Ancient Greek λίβανος (líbanos, “frankincense (Boswellia sacra)”), from a Semitic source, compare Proto-Semitic *laban- (“white”). Cognate with Biblical Hebrew לְבוֹנָה (l'voná, “frankincense”), Arabic لبان (lubān, “frankincense”). (Compare benzoin for a similar process of metanalysis.) Doublet of oliban.

oligarch

Greek

From Greek oligarkhes, from oligoi "few" and arkhein "to rule".

oligarchy

Greek

From Greek oligarkhia, from oligoi "few" and arkhein "to rule": rule by the few.

oligoduplex

Origin

From oligo- + duplex.

olive

Latin

Traces through Old French and Latin oliva back to an ancient Mediterranean word, ultimately the same root that gives us "oil."

Oliver

Old French

Came into English through Old French Olivier, ultimately linked to the Old Norse name Óleifr — the same root that gives us "Olaf."

Olivia

Latin

Derived from Latin oliva ("olive"); the name was popularised in English by its use for a character in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.

Olivier

French

Borrowed from French Olivier, a doublet of Oliver.

ollie

Origin · 1970

Named after American skateboarder Alan Gelfand, whose nickname "Ollie" became attached to the move he popularised in the late 1970s.

Olsen

Danish

Borrowed from Danish Olsen, a patronymic from Ole + -sen.

Olson

Norwegian

An Americanized form of Swedish Olsson or Danish/Norwegian Olsen, meaning "son of Olaf."

Olsson

Swedish

Borrowed from Swedish Olsson.

Olympia

Ancient Greek

From Ancient Greek Ὀλυμπία (Olumpía), related to Olympus.

Olympiad

Latin · 1900

From Greek Olympias, the four-year span between Olympic Games, via Latin and French — the academic-contest sense was popularized by the International Mathematical Olympiad in the 20th century.

Olympian

Latin

From Latin Olympius, ultimately from Greek Olympos, "Mount Olympus."