O

History

The letter was derived from the Semitic 'Ajin (eye) which represented a consonant, probably the pharyngeal consonant (IPA ʕ) similar to the Arabic letter ع called 'Ajn', but in Greek (Omicron), Etruscan and Latin it came to be used for the vowel /o/.

Usage

O is most commonly associated with the oʊ. In English, though, O has a short value which maps to ɒ (ɑ in parts of North America), while the long value tends to a diphthong of /o/ and ʊ. Common digraphs include OO (inconsistently with the sound ʊ or /u/), OI (usually a diphthong of ɔ and ɪ), as well as OA, OE, and OU with a variety of pronunciations depending on context.

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 by some languages to distinguish values that were not present in Latin and Greek, particularly rounded front vowels.

Alternative representations

Oscar represents the letter O in the NATO phonetic alphabet. In the International phonetic alphabet, [o] represents the close-mid back rounded vowel.

Meanings for O

In medicine, O (also, O+ or O-) is one of the human blood types.

In chemistry, O stands for oxygen.

In Normandy, O is a well-known and picturesque château. See Château d'O.

O is also a symbol for a hug, as in love notes. (See Hugs and Kisses.)

O is also the nickname of a magazine founded by Oprah Winfrey, more formally called O, The Oprah Magazine.

O may refer to the 2002 album by Damien Rice, see O (album)

O is also a movie.

O is a family name in Japanese; see O (name).

Story of O is a French erotic novel.

In economics, O is usually used to represent output.

In Windows, Ctrl-O, and Mac OS, Command-O, opens a file.

"O" is the name of a production show by Cirque du Soleil at the Bellagio (hotel and casino) in Las Vegas.

In mathematics and computer science, O is a notation used to describe the asymptotic behavior of a function; see Big O notation.

See also