OK

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɔ.ke/^[1]
• IPA: /ɔk/^[1]

Forms

OK, also written O.K. and okay.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from English OK, American English, first recorded in Boston in 1839 as an abbreviation of “all correct” playfully spelled “oll korrect”, part of a fashion for such jokes on the east coast of the United States (“O.W.” for “all right”, spelled “oll wright”).^[2] Taken up in election campaigns in New York, it was reinterpreted as the initials of “Old Kinderhook”, after a Democratic candidate from Kinderhook whose supporters formed an “OK Club”, and opponents of General Andrew Jackson said it showed his poor spelling; it quickly became widely known.^[2]

In French it is pronounced by spelling out the English letters.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in French in 1869, in the journal L'Ingénieur, describing the laying of the Atlantic cable: tout était O.K. (“all was in order”).^[2]

Semantic evolution

The interjection marking agreement is recorded in 1931, in Luc Durtain's Captain O.K..^[2] The spelling okay is used by Gabrielle Roy in 1945, and the noun meaning “approval” is found in Quebec writing (son okay final).^[2]

Timeline

• 1839 – O.K. first recorded in Boston.^[2]
• 1869 – Tout était O.K. in L'Ingénieur.^[2]
• 1931 – Used as an interjection, in Luc Durtain.^[2]
• 1945 – The spelling okay, in Gabrielle Roy.^[2]

Meanings

Interjection

1. (familiar) okay, agreed, all right: OK, on y va.^[2][1]

Adjective

1. (familiar) Fine, in order: tout est OK.^[2]

Noun

1. (familiar) approval, the go-ahead.^[2][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard