of

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English of,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English of (“from, out of, off”), originally the low-stress variant of æf (“away, away from”).^{[5][6][7][3][8][9]} It goes back to Proto-Germanic *ab (“away, away from”), as Wiktionary writes it, with Etymonline and Barnhart giving the forms *af and *aba,^[1][6][8] and ultimately to Proto-Indo-European *apo- (“off, away”).^[6][10][8] It is cognate with Old Frisian af, Old Saxon af, Dutch af (“off, down”), German ab (“off, from, down”), Old Norse af, Swedish av and Gothic 𐌰𐍆 (af), and outside Germanic with Latin ab (“from, away from”), Ancient Greek ἀπό (apó, “off, away from”) and Hittite appa (“afterwards, again”).^{[5][6][8][3][11]} Off is the stressed development of the same Old English word.^[5][1][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

From, away from, out of: in Old English, about 700 according to Barnhart.^[8] The OED's first quotation is the early Old English Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, in the Parker manuscript, under the year 658.^[5] Middle English records begin with the Peterborough Chronicle, dated 1100 by Barnhart and before 1121 by the Middle English Dictionary.^[8][4]

Semantic evolution

In Old English the main sense was still "away",^[6] and the word marked where something came from, the point in time something began, and what was removed from someone.^[5] It changed in Middle English when it was used to translate Latin dē, ex and above all Old French de, which had come to stand in for the genitive case.^[6] Meanwhile a stressed form developed in its use as an adverb,^[5] and both forms were written of until the end of the Middle English period, and often to 1600 or later.^[5] The spelling off, recorded about 1250 by Barnhart,^[8] grew more frequent from about 1400 and was reserved for the stressed form during the 16th century.^[5] The old "away" sense lives on only in north of and the like, in as of and out of,^[5][13] and in verbs of removal such as cure of and rid of.^[5] Johnson (1755) put first its use "before the substantive that follows another in construction".^[14] Fowler, quoted by Etymonline, charged it with "being accessory to more crimes against grammar than any other" word.^[6] In telling the time, of for "before" appears in 1817, in North American, Scottish and northern Irish English.^[5] English dialects had many forms, among them a in Westmorland and Devon, av in Ireland and Kent, iv in Northumberland, and o' in Scotland.^[15]

Timeline

• c. 700 – from, away from, out of.^[8][5]
• Old English – a point in time from which something begins; after a compass point; after verbs of removal.^[5]
• 1100 – Middle English of, in the Peterborough Chronicle.^[8]
• c. 1250 – the spelling off.^[8]
• c. 1330 – after verbs such as cease and fail (obsolete by 1603).^[5]
• c. 1400 – off grows more common for the stressed form.^[5]
• 1773 – a spelling of unstressed have.^[5][2][6]
• 1817 – in telling the time, before the hour.^[5]

Meanings

Preposition

1. Coming from or originating in: the folk songs of the Highlands.^[10][16]
2. Caused by; as a result of: He died of pneumonia.^[10][16]
3. At a stated distance from: two miles north of the bridge.^[10][16][5]
4. So as to be separated or freed from: stripped of his rank.^[10][5]
5. Out of a whole or group; expressing a part: three of my cousins.^[10][16]
6. Made from or consisting of: a ring of gold.^[10][16]
7. Belonging to or connected with; expressing possession: the handle of the door.^[10][16]
8. Having as a quality: a woman of courage.^[10][16]
9. Containing, or measured by: a box of apples, a litre of water.^[10][16]
10. Named or specified as, marking apposition: the city of Lisbon, a height of six metres.^[10][16]
11. Linking a noun of action to its subject or object: a fear of heights, the barking of a dog.^[10][16]
12. About; concerning: We spoke of the old days.^[10][16]
13. In respect of: short of breath.^[10]
14. (US) Before the hour: ten minutes of three.^[10][16][5]
15. (informal) At a regular time: We go fishing of a Sunday.^[16]
16. Marking the agent after a passive: admired of all.^[16]
17. (obsolete) From a place or thing; away from.^[2][13]

Related words

• out of
• thereof
• whereof
• off
• have
• ebb
• ab-
• apo-

Usage notes

Written after modal verbs, as in could of, should of and must of, the word stands for have: the OED explains it as a variant arising because the unstressed auxiliary was misheard as the preposition, and first records it in a letter of 1773.^[5] Merriam-Webster gives about 1800 for this use, Etymonline "by 1837" and the Shorter Oxford the middle of the 19th century.^[2][6][13] Merriam-Webster lists it as a separate homograph, mostly used in written dialogue to represent a supposed dialectal or substandard speech,^[2] and the Shorter Oxford labels it non-standard.^[13] Dictionary.com notes that the two are pronounced alike, that inexperienced writers confuse them, and that professional writers use the spelling deliberately.^[17] Dictionary.com also describes of after how or too with an adjective (too long of a wait) as largely restricted to informal speech.^[17] Off of is called colloquial and dialectal by the Shorter Oxford.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
12. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
16. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
17. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House