OK
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English
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˌəʊˈkeɪ/
- (General Australian) IPA(key): /ˌəˈkæɪ/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˌoʊˈkeɪ/
Audio (GenAm) (file)
Etymology 1
Origin disputed. Wikipedia lists several possibilities, of which the most widely accepted is that it is an abbreviation of "oll korrect", a comical spelling of "all correct" which first appeared in print in The Boston Morning Post on March 23, 1839, as part of a fad for similar fanciful abbreviations in the United States during the late 1830s. However, this theory suffers from the fact that the modern OK has several meanings; all correct being an accurate substitution for almost none of them. The Choctaw word okeh (“it is so”), common in Choctaw translations of the Bible, could better explain ok's variety of weakly affirmative definitions. Additionally, okeh was the most common etymology of okay in dictionaries until the 1960's, and linguistically predates Boston's O.K. However, this theory suffers from the fact that the Choctaw language was relatively obscure, generally spoken (sometimes in a pidgin form) mainly with African-American slaves.
Synonyms
- (endorsement or approval): approval, endorsement, green light, thumbs up, go-ahead
Translations
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Verb
OK (third-person singular simple present OKs, present participle OKing, simple past and past participle OKed)
- To approve.
- I don't want to OK this amount of money.
- (computing) To confirm by activating a button marked OK.
- 2001, Mike Collins, Pro Tools: Practical Recording, Editing and Mixing for Music Production
- Type a suitable name for your Marker and OK the dialogue box.
- 2008, Martin Evening, Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers
- When you OK the crop, the image size will be adjusted to match the front image resolution.
- 2001, Mike Collins, Pro Tools: Practical Recording, Editing and Mixing for Music Production
Synonyms
Translations
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Adjective
OK (comparative more OK, superlative most OK)
- All right, permitted.
- Do you think it's OK to stay here for the night?
- Satisfactory, reasonably good; not exceptional.
- The soup was OK, but the dessert was excellent.
- In good health or a good emotional state.
- He's not feeling well now, but he should be OK after some rest.
Synonyms
- (all right, permissible): allowed, all right, permissible
- (satisfactory): adequate, all right, not bad, satisfactory
- (in good health or a good emotional state): fine, well
Antonyms
- (all right, permissible): forbidden
- (satisfactory): bad, inadequate, poor, unsatisfactory
- (in good health or a good emotional state): ill, poorly, sick, under the weather, unwell
Translations
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Adverb
OK (comparative more OK, superlative most OK)
- Satisfactorily, sufficiently well.
- The team did OK in the playoffs.
Synonyms
- (satisfactorily): adequately, satisfactorily
Antonyms
- (satisfactorily): badly, inadequately, poorly, unsatisfactorily
Translations
Interjection
OK
- Used to indicate acknowledgement or acceptance.
- I promise to give it back. Reply: OK.
- Let's meet again this afternoon. Reply: OK.
- Shut up! Reply: OK, OK.
- OK! I get it! Stop nagging me!
- 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
- Come by this afternoon. — Okay.
Audio (US) (file)
- Come by this afternoon. — Okay.
- Used to introduce a sentence in order to draw attention to the importance of what is being said.
- OK, I'm thinking of a number...
- Used in turn-taking, serving as a request to the speaker to grant the turn to the interrupter.
- You always do this to me! When we were at your mother’s, you said that... Interrupter: OK, OK, ...
Synonyms
Translations
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Descendants
- → Afrikaans: oukei
- → Arabic: أُوكِي (ʾokey), أُوكَي (ʾukay)
- → Chinese: OK (ōukèi, ōukēi)
- → Dutch: oké
- → Estonian: okei
- → Finnish: okei
- → French: okay
- → German: okay
- → Hebrew: אוקי (okéy)
- → Hindi: ओके (oke)
- → Hungarian: oké
- → Icelandic: ókei
- → Italian: ok
- → Japanese: OK (ōkē)
- → Korean: OK (okei)
- → Macedonian: океј (okej)
- → Malay: okey
- → Polish: okej
- → Portuguese: OK
- → Russian: окей (okej)
- → Serbo-Croatian:
- → Spanish: okay, okey
- → Swedish: OK
- → Thai: โอเค (oo-kee)
- → Turkish: okey
- → Ukrainian: окей (okej)
See also
References
- How 'OK' took over the world, Allan Metcalf, BBC News Magazine (2011 February 18)
- The ‘O’ Word, Roy Blount, Jr., The New York Times Sunday Book Review (2010 November 19)
- OK: The Improbable Story of America's Greatest Word, Allan Metcalf, Oxford University Press (2010)
- Jim Fay (16 September 2009), “The Choctaw Expression "Okeh" and the Americanism "Okay"”, in Illinoisprairie.info, archived from the original on 24 December 2010.
- Allen Read, the Expert of 'O.K.,' Dies at 96, Douglas Martin, The New York Times Obituaries (2002 October 18)
- What does "OK" stand for?, Cecil Adams, The Straight Dope (1985)
- OK at OneLook Dictionary Search
Proper noun
OK
- United States postal abbreviation for Oklahoma, a state of the United States of America.
Chinese
Pronunciation
Usage notes
- Using Roman letters in a Chinese running text is frowned upon by many purists and not supported by language policies of Chinese speaking areas, but a limited number of words in Roman script in all capitals have entered Chinese dictionaries and mainstream Chinese literature.
- In transcribing speech synonyms are often used instead of "OK", e.g. 好 (hǎo), 行 (xíng).
Japanese
Pronunciation
- (Tokyo) オーケー [óꜜòkèè] (Atamadaka – [1])[1][2][3]
- (Tokyo) オーケー [òóꜜkèè] (Nakadaka – [2])[3]
- (Tokyo) オーケー [òókéꜜè] (Nakadaka – [3])[3]
- IPA(key): [o̞ːke̞ː]
Noun
OK (katakana オーケー, rōmaji ōkē, alternative reading オッケー, rōmaji okkē)
- agreement; approval
- 2009 January 10, Ohba, Tsugumi; Obata, Takeshi, “3ページ ペンとネーム [Page 3: Pens and Names]”, in
BAKUMAN。 [BAKUMAN.], volume 1 (fiction), Tokyo: Shueisha, →ISBN, page 104:- これか これがネームか マンガ賞の募集ページとかで目にした事あるけど
- Kore ka Kore ga nēmu ka Mangashō no boshū pēji toka de me ni shita koto aru kedo
- So this is a name, huh? I’ve seen one on some application page for a manga award
- Manga no shitagaki mitai na mon Mazu kore o kaite henshūsha ni misete ōkē ga detara hajimete genkō ni dekiru ōkē ga deru made wa nando demo kakinaoshi Motto mo nēmu de misete ii no wa mangaka toshite no sainō o mitomerareta yatsu na
- It’s basically a rough sketch for manga. First you make one and show it to the editor, and only if it’s OKed can you go ahead with the draft. You may have to do it over a couple of times ‘til it gets OKed. Though good mangaka can just pass with the name alone.
- これか これがネームか マンガ賞の募集ページとかで目にした事あるけど
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- no problem
Antonyms
- NG (enujī)
Interjection
OK (katakana オーケー, rōmaji ōkē, alternative reading オッケー, rōmaji okkē)
- OK
- 2009 August 25, Amano, Kozue, “
第 2話 夢 ヶ丘 高 校 [Chapter 2: Yumegaoka High School]”, inあまんちゅ! [AMANCHU!], volume 1 (fiction), Tokyo: Mag Garden, →ISBN, pages 33–38:- その1「準備」っ OK‼その2「位置」っ お家の玄関 OK‼その3「時間」っ 7時30分 OK‼その4「空気」っ…………ピッ OK‼その5「行動」っ レッツらゴ——!OK‼
- Sono ichi “Junbi”h okkē‼ Sono ni “ichi”h Ouchi no genkan okkē‼ Sono san “Jikan”h Shichi-ji sanjū-bun okkē‼ Sono yon “Kūki”h………… Pih okkē‼ Sono go “Kōdō”h Rettsu ra go——! Okkē‼
- Number 1 “Preparation”, check‼ Number 2 “Location”: Entryway, check‼ Number 3 “Time”: 7:30, check‼ Number 4 “Air”………… Hwee, check‼ Number 5 “Action”: Let’s la go——! Check‼
- その1「準備」っ OK‼その2「位置」っ お家の玄関 OK‼その3「時間」っ 7時30分 OK‼その4「空気」っ…………ピッ OK‼その5「行動」っ レッツらゴ——!OK‼
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Korean
Etymology
From English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key)[o̞kʰe̞i]
- Phonetic Hangul[오케이]
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Antonyms
Portuguese
Pronunciation
- (Brazil) IPA(key): /ˌɔ.ˈkej/, /ˌo.ˈkej/