O

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O (minuscule: o) is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is o (pronounced /ˈoʊ/ <phonos file="LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-O.wav"></phonos>), plural oes.[1]

Name

In English, the name of the letter is the "long O" sound, pronounced /ˈoʊ/. In most other languages, its name matches the letter's pronunciation in open syllables.

Pronunciation of the name of the letter ⟨o⟩ in European languages

History

Egyptian Phoenician
Ayin 		Western Greek
Omicron 		Etruscan
O 		Latin
O
Egyptian Hieroglyph describing an eye Latin O

Its graphic form has remained fairly constant from Phoenician times until today. The name of the Phoenician letter was ʿeyn, meaning "eye", and its shape originates simply as a drawing of a human eye (possibly inspired by the corresponding Egyptian hieroglyph, Template:Cf.Proto-Sinaitic script). Its original sound value was that of a consonant, probably [ʕ], the sound represented by the cognate Arabic letter ع ʿayn.[2]

The use of this Phoenician letter for a vowel sound is due to the early Greek alphabets, which adopted the letter "omicron" to represent the vowel Script error: No such module "IPA".. The letter was adopted with the value in the Old Italic alphabets, including the early Latin alphabet. In Greek, a variation of the form later came to differentiate this long sound (omega, meaning "large O") from the short o (Omicron, meaning "small o"). The Greek omicron gave rise to the corresponding Cyrillic letter O.[2]

File:Newes ABC Buchlein MET DP855603.jpg
Late Renaissance or early Baroque design of an O, from 1627

Use in writing systems

Pronunciation of ⟨o⟩ by language
Orthography Phonemes
Catalan /ɔ/, /o/, /u/, /w/
Template:Nwr /ə/, /u/
Czech /ɔ/
Danish /ɔ/, /o/, /oː/
Dutch /ɔ/, /oː/, /ə/
English /ɒ/, Script error: No such module "IPA"., /ə/, /ɔː/, Script error: No such module "IPA".
French /o/, /ɔ/
German /ɔ/, /oː/, /o/
Irish /ɔ/, /ə/
Italian /o/, /ɔ/
Malagasy /u/
Malay /ɔ/
Norwegian /ɔ/, /ʊ/, /oː/, /uː/
Occitan /u/
Polish /ɔ/
Portuguese /ɔ/, /o/, /u/, /w/
Spanish /o/
Slovak /ɔ/
Swedish /ɔ/, /oː/, /uː/
Turkish /o/

English

The letter ⟨o⟩ is the fourth most common letter in the English alphabet.[3] Like the other English vowel letters, it has associated "long" and "short" pronunciations. The "long" ⟨o⟩ as in boat is actually most often a diphthong /oʊ/ (realized dialectically anywhere from Script error: No such module "IPA". to Script error: No such module "IPA".). In English, there is also a "short" ⟨o⟩ as in fox, /ɒ/, which sounds slightly different in different dialects. In most dialects of British English, it is either an open-mid back rounded vowel Script error: No such module "IPA". or an open back rounded vowel Script error: No such module "IPA".; in American English, it is most commonly an unrounded back Script error: No such module "IPA". to a central vowel Script error: No such module "IPA"..[4]

Common digraphs include ⟨oo⟩, which represents either /uː/, /ʊ/ or /ʌ/; ⟨oi⟩ or ⟨oy⟩, which typically represents the diphthong /ɔɪ/, and ⟨ao⟩, ⟨oe⟩, and ⟨ou⟩ which represent a variety of pronunciations depending on context and etymology.[4]

In other contexts, especially before a letter with a minim, ⟨o⟩ may represent the sound /ʌ/, as in 'son' or 'love'. It can also represent the semivowel /w/, as in choir or quinoa.[5]

"O" in isolation is a word, also spelled "oh" and pronounced Script error: No such module "IPA".. Before a noun, usually capitalized, it indicates a noun of address, as in the titles "O Canada" or "O Captain! My Captain!" or in certain verses of the Bible.[6]

Other languages

⟨o⟩ is commonly associated with the open-mid back rounded vowel Script error: No such module "IPA"., mid back rounded vowel Script error: No such module "IPA". or close-mid back rounded vowel Script error: No such module "IPA". in many languages. Other languages use ⟨o⟩ for various values, usually back vowels which are at least partly open. Derived letters such as ⟨ö⟩ and ⟨ø⟩ have been created for the alphabets of some languages to distinguish values that were not present in Latin and Greek, particularly rounded front vowels.[7]

Other systems

In the International Phonetic Alphabet, Template:Angbr IPA represents the close-mid back rounded vowel.[8]

Other uses

Template:Main article

  • Oxygen, symbol O, a chemical element

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Derived signs, symbols and abbreviations

Ancestors and siblings in other alphabets

Other representations

Computing

Other

Template:Letter reps

See also

  • O mark
  • Open O (Ɔ ɔ)
  • 0 (zero). The capital letter O may be mistaken or misused for the number 0, as they appear quite identical in some typefaces. Early typewriters did not have a 'zero' key.

Notes

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References

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  1. ^ "O" Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition (1989);Chambers-Happap, "oes" op. cit. Oes is the plural of the name of the letter. The plural of the letter itself is rendered Os, O's, os, o's.
  2. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Evolution of Alphabets". webspace.ship.edu. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
  3. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Frequency Table". www.math.cornell.edu.
  4. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."International Phonetic Alphabet for American English - IPA Chart". easypronunciation.com. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
  5. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Millward, C.M (December 1, 1988). History of the English Language. Thomson Learning. pp. |pages=137-138. ISBN 0030594316.
  6. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Quick search: "o lord"". Retrieved December 5, 2013.
  7. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Latin Script". Retrieved March 13, 2026.
  8. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."IPA Chart with Sounds – International Phonetic Alphabet Sounds". www.internationalphoneticalphabet.org. Retrieved October 22, 2023.
  9. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Constable, Peter (April 19, 2004). "L2/04-132 Proposal to add additional phonetic characters to the UCS" (PDF).
  10. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Everson, Michael; Baker, Peter; Emiliano, António; Grammel, Florian; Haugen, Odd Einar; Luft, Diana; Pedro, Susana; Schumacher, Gerd; Stötzner, Andreas (January 30, 2006). "L2/06-027: Proposal to add Medievalist characters to the UCS" (PDF).
  11. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Bunčić, Daniel (January 12, 2021). "L2/21-039: Proposal to include the letter 'Old Polish O'" (PDF).
  12. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Lemonen, Therese; Ruppel, Klaas; Kolehmainen, Erkki I.; Sandström, Caroline (January 26, 2006). "L2/06-036: Proposal to encode characters for Ordbok över Finlands svenska folkmål in the UCS" (PDF).
  13. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Miller, Kirk; Ashby, Michael (November 8, 2020). "L2/20-252R: Unicode request for IPA modifier-letters (a), pulmonic" (PDF).
  14. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Everson, Michael; et al. (March 20, 2002). "L2/02-141: Uralic Phonetic Alphabet characters for the UCS" (PDF).
  15. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Everson, Michael; Dicklberger, Alois; Pentzlin, Karl; Wandl-Vogt, Eveline (June 2, 2011). "L2/11-202: Revised proposal to encode "Teuthonista" phonetic characters in the UCS" (PDF).
  16. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Anderson, Deborah; Everson, Michael (June 7, 2004). "L2/04-191: Proposal to encode six Indo-Europeanist phonetic characters in the UCS" (PDF).
  17. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Miller, Kirk (July 11, 2020). "L2/20-125R: Unicode request for expected IPA retroflex letters and similar letters with hooks" (PDF).
  18. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Anderson, Deborah (December 7, 2020). "L2/21-021: Reference doc numbers for L2/20-266R "Consolidated code chart of proposed phonetic characters" and IPA etc. code point and name changes" (PDF).
  19. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Earliest Uses of Symbols of Set Theory and Logic". jeff560.tripod.com.[dead link]
  20. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Script (or Calligraphic)". www.w3.org. Retrieved January 3, 2024.

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Look up O or o in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
  • Page Template:Sister-inline/styles.css has no content.Script error: No such module "Sister project logo". Media related to Script error: No such module "Commons link". at Wikimedia Commons

Template:Latin alphabet

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