"O" Word Origins

Olympic

Ancient Greek

From Ancient Greek Ὀλυμπικός (Olumpikós), from Ὄλυμπος (Ólumpos, “Olympus”).

olympically

Origin

From Olympic + -ally.

Olympus

Ancient Greek

From Ancient Greek Ὄλυμπος (Ólumpos), likely of pre-Greek origin.

om

Sanskrit

Borrowed from Sanskrit om, a mystical syllable used across Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain traditions.

Oma

Origin

Borrowed from Tibetan འོ་མ ('o ma).

Omaha

Origin

Borrowed from Omaha-Ponca Umoⁿhoⁿ.

Oman

Arabic

Borrowed from Arabic عُمَان (ʕumān).

Omar

Arabic

From Arabic عُمَر (ʕumar). Doublet of Umar.

ombudsman

Swedish

From Swedish ombudsman, literally 'representative' or 'agent', from ombud 'commission, proxy'. The office originated in Scandinavian government and the word entered English in the twentieth century.

ome

Origin

From the suffix -ome, seen in words like genome and proteome, on the model of "-ology."

omega

Greek

From Greek ō mega, literally "great O," distinguishing it from the short o of omicron.

omelette

French · 1600

Borrowed from French omelette in the early 1600s, itself thought to derive from an alteration of "lamelle" (thin plate).

omen

Latin

From Latin omen, meaning "foreboding" or "sign."

omenic

Origin

From omen + -ic.

omer

Hebrew

From Biblical Hebrew omer, meaning "sheaf" (of grain).

OMG

Origin · 1917

An abbreviation of "oh my God," first recorded in a 1917 letter, long before its explosion in text messaging.

omi

Italian

Thought to come from Italian uomo ("man"), picked up into English slang via Polari and older cant vocabularies.

omicron

Greek

From Greek "o mikron," meaning "little o," as opposed to the "big o" of omega.

ominous

Latin

From Latin ominosus, "full of foreboding," from omen.

omission

Latin

From Latin omissio, from omittere, "to let go" or "leave out."

omit

Latin

From Latin omittere, "to let go," formed from ob- and mittere ("to send").

OML

English

An initialism of the phrases 'oh my Lord', 'oh my life' or 'on my life', which reading is intended depends on context.

omni

Origin

A clipping of "omnivore."

omnibus

Latin

From Latin omnibus, "for all," the dative plural of omnis — originally used to describe a carriage "for everyone."

omniform

Origin

From Latin omniformis, from omnis (“all”) + forma (“form”). Compare French omniforme.

omnigamy

Origin

From omni- + -gamy.

omnipotence

Origin

From Late Middle English omnipotens, from Old French omnipotence, from Latin omnipotentia.

omnipotent

Latin

From Latin omnipotens, "all-powerful," from omni- ("all") and potens ("powerful").

omnipresent

Medieval Latin

From Medieval Latin omnipraesens, from omni- ("all") and present.

omniscient

Medieval Latin

From Medieval Latin omnisciens, "all-knowing," from Latin omnis ("all") and sciens ("knowing").

omnispective

Origin

From omni- + Latin spectus, past participle of specere, spicere (“to view”).

omnivert

Origin

From omni- + -vert.

omnivore

Latin

From Latin omnis 'all' and vorare 'to devour', so literally 'all-eating'.

omophorion

Origin

From Byzantine Greek ὠμοφόριον (ōmophórion), from Ancient Greek ὦμος (ômos, “shoulder”) + φέρω (phérō, “carry”).

omphalos

Origin

From Ancient Greek ὀμφαλός (omphalós, “navel”). Doublet of navel.

on

Old Norse

From Old Norse ón, án (“without”), from Proto-Germanic *ēnu, *ēno, *ino (“without”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḗnu (“without”). Cognate with North Frisian on (“without”), Middle Dutch an, on (“without”), Middle Low German āne (“without”), German ohne (“without”), Gothic 𐌹𐌽𐌿 (inu, “without, except”). Unlikely to be related to Ancient Greek ἄνευ (áneu, “without”), which is likely akin to Proto-Germanic *sundraz instead (whence sunder).

on the rocks

Origin

From the allusion of a ship running aground against rocks and breaking apart. The poured over ice sense is due to ice's resemblance to rocks.

Ona

Spanish

As a surname, borrowed from Spanish Oña.

onager

Origin

From Middle English onager, onagir (“wild ass; military catapult”), from Anglo-Norman onager, Middle French onager, onagre, Old French onager, onagre (“wild ass; military catapult”) (modern French onagre), from Late Latin onager (“large siege engine”), Latin onager (“wild ass”), from Hellenistic Ancient Greek ὄναγρος (ónagros, “wild ass”), Byzantine Ancient Greek ὄναγρος (ónagros, “large siege engine”), from ὄνος (ónos, “ass”) + ἄγριος (ágrios, “wild”) (from ᾰ̓γρός (ăgrós, “countryside; field”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- (“to drive”)) + -ῐος (-ĭos, suffix forming adjectives)). The “military engine” sense alludes to the strong recoil of the engine, likened to an onager’s kick; see the 2007 quotation.

onanism

Origin

From Onan + -ism. In the Book of Genesis, Onan, son of Judah, in fulfillment of the laws of levirate marriage was to impregnate his brother Er's widow, Tamar, in order to raise offspring from the union in his brother's name. In order to avoid raising descendants for his late brother, however, Onan "spilled his semen on the ground when he went in to his brother's wife, so that he would not give offspring to his brother" (Genesis 38:9).

onanist

Origin

From onan(ism) + -ist, from Onan, a biblical character known for spilling his seed (semen) on the ground.

onboard

Origin

A fusion of "on" and "board," from the older phrase "on board."

onboarding

English

A compound of the phrase 'on board', as in bringing someone on board, with the -ing ending; it spread through business and human-resources usage.

once

Old English

From Old English aenes, an extension of aene ("one time") with a genitive -s ending, related to "one."

oncologist

Origin

From "oncology" plus the agent suffix "-ist."

oncology

Greek · 1857

From Greek onkos ("mass" or "tumor") plus -logy ("study of"); first recorded in English in 1857.

oncoming

Middle English

From Middle English "on comynge," a combination of "on" and "coming."

one

Old English

From Old English an, from Proto-Germanic ainaz, ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "single."