O (letter): Difference between revisions
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is the | ''O'' is the 15th letter of the [[English alphabet]]. Its name is pronounced like the exclamation''oh!''. | ||
==Use in English== | ==Use in English== | ||
A list of irregular o’s, usually pronounced oô or ù/oò, never û: | |||
spelling pronunciation | |||
approve *approôv | |||
Boer *Bûer | |||
bosom *bùzəm | |||
canoe *canoô | |||
croissant *kwússón (French nasal -ón) | |||
do *doô | |||
lasso *lássoô | |||
Lesotho *Lesûtu | |||
lose *loôz | |||
move *moôv | |||
prove *proôv | |||
shoe foot shoô away | |||
to preposition toô also, many = tŵo number | |||
tomb *toôm | |||
who *hoô | |||
whose *hoôz | |||
wolf *wùlf | |||
woman *wùmən | |||
women *wímmin | |||
Worcester *Wùstə (AmE -r) | |||
Examples (the accents show stress and pronunciation: see [[English phonemes]]): | Examples (the accents show stress and pronunciation: see [[English phonemes]]): | ||
do (*doô). Compare dôe animal = dôugh bake. | |||
to preposition (= toô many, also= tŵo number). Compare tôe foot, toúgh strong (*túff). | |||
ous versus -us: -ous forms adjectives, -us forms nouns. | |||
Adjectives: pàrlous, treméndous, màrvellous, trémulous, cöurteous, magnánimous, précious, disāstrous (minus the e of disāster). | |||
Nouns (especially names): ábacus, sýllabus, ómnibus (whence bús), nímbus, cûmulus, óctopus, sánctus, fôcus, crôcus, Màrcus, Catúllus, Horâtius (*Horâyshəss). | |||
The majority of these are from Latin, or Greek through Latin. There are further examples under u. Thelônious Mònk was an exception – but he was originally Thêlius. | |||
The noun suffix -our becomes -or- before -ous: hûmorous, glámorous. | |||
Revision as of 16:27, 5 March 2008
O is the 15th letter of the English alphabet. Its name is pronounced like the exclamationoh!.
Use in English
A list of irregular o’s, usually pronounced oô or ù/oò, never û: spelling pronunciation approve *approôv Boer *Bûer bosom *bùzəm canoe *canoô croissant *kwússón (French nasal -ón) do *doô lasso *lássoô Lesotho *Lesûtu lose *loôz move *moôv prove *proôv shoe foot shoô away to preposition toô also, many = tŵo number tomb *toôm who *hoô whose *hoôz wolf *wùlf woman *wùmən women *wímmin Worcester *Wùstə (AmE -r)
Examples (the accents show stress and pronunciation: see English phonemes):
do (*doô). Compare dôe animal = dôugh bake. to preposition (= toô many, also= tŵo number). Compare tôe foot, toúgh strong (*túff).
ous versus -us: -ous forms adjectives, -us forms nouns.
Adjectives: pàrlous, treméndous, màrvellous, trémulous, cöurteous, magnánimous, précious, disāstrous (minus the e of disāster).
Nouns (especially names): ábacus, sýllabus, ómnibus (whence bús), nímbus, cûmulus, óctopus, sánctus, fôcus, crôcus, Màrcus, Catúllus, Horâtius (*Horâyshəss). The majority of these are from Latin, or Greek through Latin. There are further examples under u. Thelônious Mònk was an exception – but he was originally Thêlius.
The noun suffix -our becomes -or- before -ous: hûmorous, glámorous.
òw and ôw:
òw stressed in monosyllables: hòw, nòw, bròwn, còw, fròwn, bòw down, vòw, wòw, AmE plòw (BrE plòugh) and in: còward, còwardly, glòwer, flòwer, pòwer, Gòwer, shòwer, nòwadays.
ôw stressed in monosyllables: lôw, sôw seed (= sew needle) môw, tôw pull (= tôe foot) and unstressed at the end of words of two syllables: yéllôw, shállôw, hóllôw, gállôws, nárrôw, bórrôw, árrôw, fúrrôw, fállôw.
oê, from Greek oi, is quite rare. It can be written as a single letter, œ, but this is rather unusual nowadays, e alone often being used instead, especially in America. But you might see Phœbe, fœtus, œnology, Œdipus, phœnix bird (= Phoênix Arizona), œstrogen instead of Phoêbe, foêtus, oênology, Oêdipus, phoênix, oêstrogen. And, from French, there is œuvre (*ërvrə).
gôes (cf. dòes do, dôes animals) and the plurals, tôes, potâtoes, AmE tomâtoes, BrE tomàtoes, peccadíllôes are of course not Greek oi and just have the ô sound. But not all plurals have the e: volcânos, tornâdos, hâlos, concërtos (consh-). The longer the word has been in the English language, the more likely it is to have -ôes; there is alas no other rule.
pêople has the same vowel sound as œ, but with the letters reversed, and the o completely redundant, as it is also in léopard and jéopardy (cf. jéalousy).