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OK (/ˌoʊˈkeɪ/ ⓘ; spelling variations include okay, okeh, O.K., ok and Ok, as well as k in texting) is an English word (originating in American English) denoting approval, acceptance, agreement, assent, acknowledgment, or a sign of indifference. OK is frequently used as a loanword in other languages. It has been described as the most frequently spoken or written word on the planet.[1]
OK's origins are disputed; however, most modern reference works hold that it originated around Boston as part of a fad for abbreviations using misspellings in the late 1830s, and originally stood for "oll korrect" ("all correct"). This origin was first described by linguist Allen Walker Read in the 1960s.
As an adjective, OK principally means "adequate" or "acceptable" as a contrast to "bad" ("The boss approved this, so it is OK to send out"); it can also mean "mediocre" when used in contrast with "good" ("The french fries were great, but the burger was just OK"). It fulfills a similar role as an adverb ("Wow, you did OK for your first time skiing!"). As an interjection, it can denote compliance ("OK, I will do that"),[2] or agreement ("OK, that is fine"). It can mean "assent" when it is used as a noun ("the boss gave her the OK to the purchase") or, more colloquially, as a verb ("the boss OKed the purchase"). OK, as an adjective, can express acknowledgement without approval.[3] As a versatile discourse marker or continuer, it can also be used with appropriate intonation to show doubt or to seek confirmation ("OK?", "Is that OK?").[4][2] Some of this variation in use and shape of the word is also found in other languages.[5]
- ^ "OK, 'most spoken word on the planet', marks its 175th anniversary". South China Morning Post. 23 March 2014. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
- ^ a b Couper-Kuhlen, Elizabeth (17 March 2021), "The prosody and phonetics of OKAY in American English", in Betz, Emma; Deppermann, Arnulf; Mondada, Lorenza; Sorjonen, Marja-Leena (eds.), OKAY across Languages: Toward a comparative approach to its use in talk-in-interaction, Studies in Language and Social Interaction, vol. 34, John Benjamins (published 2021), pp. 131–173, doi:10.1075/slsi.34.05cou, ISBN 9789027260284, ISSN 1879-3983, S2CID 233623150
- ^ Beaver 2011.
- ^ Yngve, Victor. "On getting a word in edgewise," page 568. Papers from the Sixth Regional Meeting [of the] Chicago Linguistic Society, 1970.
- ^ Betz, Emma; Sorjonen, Marja-Leena (17 March 2021), "Introduction: OKAY emerging as a cross-linguistic object of study in prior research", in Betz, Emma; Deppermann, Arnulf; Mondada, Lorenza; Sorjonen, Marja-Leena (eds.), OKAY across Languages: Toward a comparative approach to its use in talk-in-interaction, Studies in Language and Social Interaction, John Benjamins (published 2021), pp. 2–28, doi:10.1075/slsi.34.01bet, ISBN 9789027260284, ISSN 1879-3983, S2CID 233639474