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Etymology and origin of the English word or

Pronunciation

or1 conjunction

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1175 Ormulum
Inherited from
Old English oþþe via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Old English oþþe

Etymology

The conjunction is inherited from Middle English or, a reduced form of other,[2][3][4][5] like e'er from ever,[6][7] which is inherited from Old English oþþe (“either, or”) with an added -r.[6][8][4] The ending was probably taken from other words for a choice between alternatives, such as either and whether;[8][6][4][7] the same happened to Old High German odo, which became odar.[4][7] In Middle English the word also merged with outher (“either”), from Old English āhwæþer, the source of either;[2][7][6][9] the OED takes some of its Middle English spellings from that word.[2] The cognates of the Old English word include Old Frisian ieftha, Middle Dutch ofte, Old Norse eða, German oder and Gothic 𐌰𐌹𐌸𐌸𐌰𐌿 (aiþþau).[6][10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Joining alternatives: about 1175, in the Ormulum.[2][7] Etymonline says that the reduced form was in Midlands dialect by the mid-13th century and common by about 1300, especially in the north.[6]

Semantic evolution

The change to or first affected the second member of a pair: in Old English both members were oþþe, and Middle English had other … other before other … or and either … or.[6][12][11] Weekley quotes the Ayenbite of Inwit (1340): "Other in the worlde other in religion".[11] The full form other survived in the South into the 16th century, as in Tyndale's translation of Luke (1526),[6] although Ayto dates its end to the 15th century.[8] The correlatives either … or and whether … or are recorded from about 1300 and before 1325,[2] and or … or for "either … or", now poetic, from before 1325.[2] From 1357 or linked two names for the same thing, "otherwise called"; before 1375 it also came between two numbers for a rough amount, four or five.[2] The sense "otherwise, else" is also from before 1375,[2] and or else from about 1300.[6] In 1755 Johnson called it "a disjunctive particle".[13] In logic and computing OR became the name of a Boolean operator in the 1940s.[2][10]

Timeline

  • c. 1175 – joining alternatives, in the Ormulum.[2][7]
  • c. 1300 – either … or, and or else.[2][6]
  • before 1325 – whether … or, and or … or for either … or.[2]
  • 1357 – linking two names for the same thing.[2]
  • before 1375 – between numbers, for an approximate amount; otherwise, else.[2]
  • c. 1907 – introducing a doubting afterthought, in a letter of Yeats.[2]
  • 1940 – a logical operator.[10] The OED's first record of the noun is from 1947.[2]

Meanings

Conjunction

  1. Used to join alternatives: Will you walk or take the bus?[14][10][2]
  2. Used with either or whether before the first alternative: whether it rains or not.[14][2]
  3. Used to join two names or descriptions of the same thing: a fortnight, or two weeks.[14][10][2]
  4. Used between two numbers to give a rough amount: three or four days.[2]
  5. Otherwise; else: Hurry, or you'll miss the train.[14][2]

Noun

  1. (logic, computing) An operator in logic that gives a true result when at least one of its operands is true; also written OR.[10][2]

or2 before, ere

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1200 Peri Didaxeon
Borrowed from
Old Norse ár via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Old Norse ár

Etymology

The word meaning "before" is inherited from Middle English or, also ar,[10][15][4] apparently borrowed from Old Norse ár (“early”),[2][10][15][4] the Norse counterpart of Old English ǣr, which gave ere.[2][4][3] The American Heritage Dictionary and the Shorter Oxford see both the Norse and the Old English word behind it,[9][3] and Hoad notes an Old English form ār (“early”) in late Northumbrian.[4] The OED observes that the Norse form is a positive ("early"), while nearly every English use is comparative ("before, sooner"), and that some Middle English spellings ar and or of er come from loss of stress.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Before, in time: before 1200, in Peri Didaxeon.[2] Merriam-Webster and Hoad date the word to the 13th century.[10][4]

Semantic evolution

The adverb "early" is recorded from Old English to 1817, and "formerly, before" from about 1275 to 1600.[2] The preposition and conjunction "before" lasted longer, and is now Scottish and Irish[2] or chiefly dialectal;[10] Wright recorded it from Scotland and Ireland to Somerset, as in Stevenson's Catriona (1893): "I'll be there long or that".[16] From the 15th century it was often strengthened as or ever, which became or e'er and or ere by confusion of e'er with ere;[4][11] Milton used or ere in 1645.[2] In Scots it could also mean "until", from 1827.[2]

Timeline

  • Old English – early (obsolete by 1817).[2]
  • before 1200 – before (in time).[2]
  • before 1225 – or than, before (obsolete by 1511).[2]
  • c. 1275 – formerly, previously (obsolete by 1600).[2]
  • c. 1300 – with an adverb of time, as in or long, ere long.[2]
  • 15th century – or ever, before.[4]
  • 1645 – or ere, in Milton.[2]
  • 1827 – Scottish, until.[2]

Meanings

Conjunction

  1. (archaic or dialectal) Before; sooner than: He'll be home or the bell rings.[10][2][3]
  2. (Scottish, dialectal) Until.[2][10]

Preposition

  1. (archaic or dialectal) Before: or night.[2][16][3]

or3 gold, in heraldry

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1437 Rolls of Parliament
Borrowed from
Anglo-Norman or
Ultimate origin
Latin aurum

Etymology

The heraldic word is borrowed from Anglo-Norman or (“gold”) and Middle French or,[2][10][3] from Latin aurum (“gold”).[2][15][4][9] In Old French the word is recorded from the 9th century, earliest in the figurative sense "wealth, riches",[2] and in Anglo-Norman from the early 12th century, both for the metal and for the heraldic colour.[17] It is related to aureate, oriole and ormolu.[15]

Earliest recorded meaning

Gold, the metal: 1437, in the Rolls of Parliament, a rare use now obsolete.[2] Merriam-Webster dates the heraldic sense to the 15th century,[10] the OED to about 1530, in Thomas Tonge's Heraldic Visitation of Northern Counties.[2]

Semantic evolution

Outside heraldry the word never caught on in English: the OED has only one record of it for the metal.[2] In blazon it names one of the two metals, the tincture gold or yellow,[3][10] and in drawings and engravings it is shown by small dots.[10] It survives also in ormolu, from French or moulu, ground gold.[2][15]

Timeline

  • 1437 – gold, the metal (obsolete).[2]
  • c. 1530 – in heraldry, the tincture gold or yellow.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (heraldry) The tincture gold or yellow, one of the two heraldic metals.[10][3][15]

Adjective

  1. (heraldry) Of this tincture; golden: a lion or.[10]

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 r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  8. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  9. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  11. ^ a b c d Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  12. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  14. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  15. ^ a b c d e f Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  16. ^ a b 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)
  17. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)

Related etymologies

  • scare · also from Old Norse
  • stack · also from Old Norse
  • cart · also from Old Norse
  • skirt · also from Old Norse
  • sprint · also from Old Norse
  • spike · also from Old Norse
  • steak · also from Old Norse
  • scout · also from Old Norse
Cite this entry

“Or.” Etymologically, 2 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/or. Accessed 2 Nov. 2026.

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