O

Oo

Usage

Writing Latin script

system

Type Alphabetic

Language Latin language

of origin

Phonetic [o]

usage [o̞ ]

[ɔ]

/oʊ/

[uː]
[ʌ]

[ɒ]

[ø]

[a]

[ʕ]

[w]

[◌ʷ]

[ʊ]

[ə]

[ɐ]
Unicode U+004F, U+006F

codepoint

Alphabetic 15

al position

History

Developm

ent


 Οο
 �
�


Time ~-700 to present

period

Descenda •Ö

nts •ⱺ

•Ø

•Œ

•Ɔ

•Ơ

•Ỏ

•Ꝋ
•∅

•º

•℅

Sisters ᴥ

Ю
 Ө

‫ע‬

‫ع‬
‫ܥ‬

ዐ
ࡘ
ჺ

Ոո

Օօ
ᱳ

Other

Other o(x)

letters

commonly

used with

Writing Left-to-Right

direction
This article contains phonetic transcriptions in
the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an
introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the
distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and
transcription delimiters.

ISO basic
Latin alphabet

AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlM
mNnOoPpQqRrSsTtUuVvWwXx
YyZz
  v
 t
 e

O, or o, is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter in 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/), plural oes.[1]

History[edit]

Late Renaissance or early Baroque design of an O, from

1627
Its graphic form has remained fairly constant from Phoenician times until today. The name of the
Phoenician letter was ʿeyn, meaning "eye", and indeed its shape originates simply as a drawing of a
human eye (possibly inspired by the corresponding Egyptian hieroglyph, cf. Proto-Sinaitic script). Its
original sound value was that of a consonant, probably [ʕ], the sound represented by the
cognate Arabic letter ‫ ع‬ʿayn.[2]

The use of this Phoenician letter for a vowel sound is due to the early Greek alphabets, which
adopted the letter of O "omicron" to represent the vowel /o/. 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"). Greek omicron gave rise to the corresponding Cyrillic letter O.[2][3]

Use in writing systems[edit]

English[edit]
The letter ⟨o⟩ is the fourth most common letter in the English alphabet.[4] 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 [o] to [əʊ]). 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 [ɔ] or an open back rounded vowel [ɒ];
in American English, it is most commonly an unrounded back [ɑ] to a central vowel [a].[5]

Common digraphs include ⟨oo⟩, which represents either /uː/ or /ʊ/; ⟨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.[5]

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.[citation needed]

In English, the letter ⟨o⟩ in isolation before a noun, usually capitalized, marks the vocative case, as in
the titles to O Canada or O Captain! My Captain! or certain verses of the Bible.[6]

Other languages[edit]

Pronunciation of the name of the

letter ⟨o⟩ in European languages
⟨o⟩ is commonly associated with the open-mid back rounded vowel [ɔ], mid back rounded
vowel [o̞ ] or close-mid back rounded vowel [o] 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. [citation needed]

Other systems[edit]
In the International Phonetic Alphabet, ⟨o⟩ represents the close-mid back rounded vowel.[7]

Related characters[edit]
See also: circle symbol
Descendants and related characters in the Latin alphabet[edit]
 Œ œ : Latin OE ligature
 O with diacritics: Ø ø Ǿ ǿ Ö ö Ȫ ȫ Ó ó Ò ò Ô ô Ố ố Ồ ồ Ổ ổ Ỗ ỗ Ộ ộ Ǒ ǒ Ő ő Ŏ ŏ Ȏ ȏ Ȯ ȯ Ȱ
ȱ Ọ ọ Ɵ ɵ ᶱ[8] Ơ ơ Ớ ớ Ờ ờ Ỡ ỡ Ợ ợ Ở ở Ỏ ỏ Ō ō Ṓ ṓ Ṑ ṑ Õ õ Ȭ ȭ Ṍ ṍ Ṏ ṏ Ǫ ǫ Ȍ ȍ O̩ o̩ Ó̩ ó̩
Ò̩ ò̩ Ǭ ǭ O͍ o͍
 Ꝍ ꝍ : O with loop was used in some medieval Nordic orthographies[9]
 Ꟁ ꟁ : Old Polish O[10]
 ⱺ : Small o with low ring inside is used in the Swedish Dialect Alphabet[11]
 IPA-specific symbols related to O: ɔ
 IPA superscript letters:[12] 𐞢 𐞣
 Uralic Phonetic Alphabet-specific symbols related to O:[13]
o U+1D0F ᴏ LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL O
o U+1D3C ᴼ MODIFIER LETTER CAPITAL O
o U+1D52 ᵒ MODIFIER LETTER SMALL O
o U+1D11 ᴑ LATIN SMALL LETTER SIDEWAYS O
o U+1D13 ᴓ LATIN SMALL LETTER SIDEWAYS O WITH STROKE
o U+1D16 ᴖ LATIN SMALL LETTER TOP HALF O
o U+1D17 ᴗ LATIN SMALL LETTER BOTTOM HALF O
o U+1D54 ᵔ MODIFIER LETTER SMALL TOP HALF O
o U+1D55 ᵕ MODIFIER LETTER SMALL BOTTOM HALF O
 Teuthonista phonetic transcription-specific symbols related to O:[14]
o U+AB3D ꬽ LATIN SMALL LETTER BLACKLETTER O
o U+AB3E ꬾ LATIN SMALL LETTER BLACKLETTER O WITH STROKE
o U+AB3F ꬿ LATIN SMALL LETTER OPEN O WITH STROKE
o U+AB43 ꭃ LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED O OPEN-O
o U+AB44 ꭄ LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED O OPEN-O WITH STROKE
 o : Subscript small o is used in Indo-European studies
[15]

 𝼛 : Latin small letter o with retroflex hook is used in phonetic transcription[16][17]

Derived signs, symbols and abbreviations[edit]
 Ꝋ ꝋ : Forms of O were used for medieval scribal abbreviations[9]
 ∅ : empty set symbol[18]
 º : Masculine ordinal indicator
 Calligraphic O (𝒪, 𝓸): Mathematical Alphanumeric Symbols[19]
Ancestors and siblings in other alphabets[edit]
 𐤏 : Semitic letter Ayin, from which the following symbols originally derive
o Ω ω : Greek letter Omega
o Ο ο : Greek letter Omicron
 Ⲟ ⲟ : Coptic letter O, which derives from Greek omicron
 О о : Cyrillic letter O, which also derives from Omicron
 𐌏 : Old Italic O, which derives from Greek Omicron, and is the
ancestor of modern Latin O
 Օ օ : Armenian letter O[citation needed]