OK French · revision 16442

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1869, L'Ingénieur}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ɔ.ke/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA: /ɔk/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''OK''', also written ''O.K.'' and ''okay''.^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|en|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”).^(TLFi) 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.^(TLFi)

+

+ In French it is pronounced by spelling out the English letters.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==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”).^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

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

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1839 – ''O.K.'' first recorded in Boston.^(TLFi)

+ * 1869 – ''Tout était O.K.'' in ''L'Ingénieur''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1931 – Used as an interjection, in Luc Durtain.^(TLFi)

+ * 1945 – The spelling ''okay'', in Gabrielle Roy.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Interjection===

+ # ''(familiar)'' [[m|en|okay]], agreed, all right: ''OK, on y va''.^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # ''(familiar)'' Fine, in order: ''tout est OK''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(familiar)'' [[m|en|approval]], the go-ahead.^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}