off

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English of, also offe,^[2][3] inherited from Old English of (“away”),^[2][4][5] and began as the stressed form of what is now of.^[6][7][3][8] The Old English word is an unstressed form of æf,^[8][9] from Proto-Germanic *ab, also written *af,^[8][9] from Proto-Indo-European *apo- (“off, away”),^[8][10] with cognates in German ab, Dutch af, Old Norse af, Gothic 𐌰𐍆 (af), Latin ab and Ancient Greek ἀπό (apó).^[8][9] The strong form regularly kept final /f/.^[3] The -e of early Middle English offe follows inne, according to the OED.^[3] Barnhart finds the spelling with a double f from the 12th century,^[2] and Ayto from the 15th.^[11] Both forms were used for that preposition until the 17th century, when the two became fully distinct.^{[3][9][11][12]} The verb comes from the adverb, often as a shortening of a phrasal verb.^[3][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Away, of motion from a place: Barnhart dates the Old English adverb to before 971,^[2] and the OED's first records are in the Blickling Homilies for motion and in Bald's Leechbook for separation.^[3] Etymonline dates off as an emphatic form to about 1200.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word is uncommon in Old English and becomes frequent only after about 1400.^[3] As off took over the adverb's stressed senses, of kept the weakened ones, in which the preposition is usually unstressed.^[2][8] The prepositional meaning "away from" and the adjectival "farther" were not fixed in the new spelling until the 17th century.^[8] "Not on" is first recorded in 1688,^[2] and the sailors' use, away from the land or the wind, from 1611, in the King James Bible.^[3] Johnson (1755) described the adverb as generally opposed to on, signifying disunion or separation.^[14] The adjective began with "farther" (1666), and "not at work" followed in 1826 according to Barnhart, and in 1861 according to Etymonline.^[2][8] From 1843 off could also describe a person out of sorts or food gone stale,^[3] and since 1866 a person out of his mind.^[3] The stage sense "offstage" dates from 1774, and the restaurant sense, "no longer on the menu", from 1902.^[3] The verb first meant to put off, in the 1640s,^[3][8] and later to go away (1717 in Merriam-Webster, 1843 in the OED) and to remove.^[4][3] Etymonline dates the slang sense "to kill" to 1930, and the OED to 1967.^[8][3] Phrases include off the record (1933), off the cuff (1938) and off the wall (1968).^[8]

Timeline

• before 971 – Old English of, adverb, away.^[2]
• 1100 – preposition, away from.^[2]
• before 1121 – Middle English of, in the Peterborough Chronicle.^[2]
• before 1200 – the form offe.^[2]
• 1611 – nautical, away from the land.^[3]
• 1642 – verb, to put off, to defer.^[3][8]
• 1666 – adjective, farther.^[2][4]
• 1688 – preposition, not on.^[2]
• 1774 – theatre, offstage.^[3]
• 1826 – adjective, not at work.^[2] Etymonline dates it to 1861.^[8]
• 1843 – in bad condition; of food, stale.^[3]
• 1902 – no longer on the menu.^[3]
• 1930 – verb, to kill.^[8] The OED's first record is from 1967.^[3]
• 1933 – off the record.^[8]
• 1938 – off the cuff.^[8][2]
• 1968 – off the wall.^[8]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Away from a place or position: The bus drove off.^[10][4][7]
2. At a distance in space or time: The holidays are two weeks off.^[10]
3. So as to be no longer on or attached: She cut the label off.^[10][7][3]
4. Out of operation or connection: The power is off.^[15]
5. Into sleep or unconsciousness: He nodded off.^[10][4]

Preposition

1. Away from a surface or support: The book slid off the shelf.^[12][4]
2. Removed from; deducted from: two dollars off the price.^[12][4]
3. Near to or leading away from: a lane off the main road.^[12]
4. No longer inclined towards or engaged in: I've gone off sweets.^[12]
5. (informal) From, of a source: I borrowed it off my sister.^[4][16]

Adjective

1. Not at work.^[2][12]
2. Out of order or condition; of food, stale or sour.^[3]
3. More distant; on the far side.^[4][2]
4. On the right side of a horse or vehicle, the side farther from the driver or rider.^[4]

Noun

1. (cricket) The half of the field opposite the side on which the batsman stands.^[4]

Verb

1. (slang) To kill.^[4][3][8]
2. To take off or remove.^[4][3]
3. To go away, chiefly as a command.^[4][3]

Word family

• cutoff
• blastoff
• face-off
• off-ramp
• offprint

Related words

• of
• doff
• offal
• offing
• offset
• offshoot
• offshore
• offhand

Usage notes

The American Heritage Dictionary treats off of as informal and to be avoided in formal speech and writing, and also off to indicate a source, as in "I borrowed it off my brother".^[16] Dictionary.com notes that off of goes back to the 16th century and is widespread in speech, including educated speech, though rare in edited writing.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
12. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ 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. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers
16. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin