The etymology of OK was described by renowned Columbia University professor Allen Walker Read in a series of articles in the journal “American Speech” in 1963 and 1964. The letters stand for “oll korrect.” They’re the product of a trend for amusing abbreviations that thrived in the late 1830s and 1840s.
Professor Read supported his assertion with hundreds of citations from newspapers and other documents of the period. The abbreviation fad began in Boston in the summer of 1838 and spread to New York and New Orleans in 1839. Boston newspapers began referring mockingly to the local swells as OFM, “our first men,” and used expressions like NG, “no go,” GT, “gone to Texas,” and SP, “small potatoes.”
Many of the abbreviated expressions were embellished misspellings. One forerunner of OK was OW, “oll wright,” and there was also KY, “know yuse,” KG, “know go,” and NS, “nuff said.”
The majority of these acronyms were only briefly popular. But OK was different, probably because it was so versatile. It was first used in print in Boston in March of 1839 and soon became pervasive among trendy folks of the time.
It didn’t become ubiquitous, however, until 1840 when Democratic supporters of Martin “Old Kinderhook” Van Buren adopted it as the name of their political club — the OK Club. Van Buren’s opponents tried to turn the phrase against him, by coming up with unflattering interpretations like “Out of Kash, Out of Kredit, and Out of Klothes.”
Newspapers around the country enjoyed coming up with even goofier interpretations like Oll Killed, Orfully Konfused, and Often Kontradicts. By the time the presidential campaign was over the expression had taken firm root nationwide.
Approval; agreement: Get your supervisor's OK before taking a day off.
adj.
1. Agreeable; acceptable: Was everything OK with your stay?
2. Satisfactory; good: an OK fellow.
3. Not excellent and not poor; mediocre: made an OK presentation.
4. In proper or satisfactory operational or working order: Is the battery OK?
5. Correct: That answer is OK.
6. Uninjured; safe: The skier fell but was OK.
7. Fairly healthy; well: Thanks to the medicine, the patient was OK.
adv.
Fine; well enough; adequately: a television that works OK despite its age.
interj.
Used to express approval or agreement.
tr.v., OK'ed or OK'd or o·kayed, OK'·ing or o·kay·ing, OK's or o·kays.
To approve of or agree to; authorize.
[Abbreviation of oll korrect, slang respelling of all correct.]
WORD HISTORY OK is a quintessentially American term that has spread from English to many other languages. Its origin was the subject of scholarly debate for many years until Allen Walker Read showed that OK is based on a joke of sorts. OK is first recorded in 1839 but was probably in circulation before that date. During the 1830s there was a humoristic fashion in Boston newspapers to reduce a phrase to initials and supply an explanation in parentheses. Sometimes the abbreviations were misspelled to add to the humor. OK was used in March 1839 as an abbreviation for all correct, the joke being that neither the O nor the K was correct. Originally spelled with periods, this term outlived most similar abbreviations owing to its use in President Martin Van Buren's 1840 campaign for reelection. Because he was born in Kinderhook, New York, Van Buren was nicknamed Old Kinderhook, and the abbreviation proved eminently suitable for political slogans. That same year, an editorial referring to the receipt of a pin with the slogan O.K. had this comment: “frightful letters … significant of the birth-place of Martin Van Buren, old Kinderhook, as also the rallying word of the Democracy of the late election, ‘all correct’ .... Those who wear them should bear in mind that it will require their most strenuous exertions … to make all things O.K.”
America's greatest contribution to the English language and indeed to languages all over the world is a joke. Or at least that's how it began.
In the summer of 1838 newspaper columnists in Boston thought nothing funnier than to reduce a phrase to its initials (with an explanation in parentheses). Allen Walker Read, the premier historian of our most famous expression, found this example in the Boston Morning Post of June 12, 1838: "We understand that J. Eliot Brown, Esq., Secretary of the Boston Young Men's Society for Meliorating the Condition of the Indians, F.A.H. (fell at Hoboken, N.J.) on Saturday last at 4 o'clock, p.m. in a duel W.O.O.O.F.C. (with one of our first citizens.) What measures will be taken by the Society in consequence of this heart rending event, R.T.B.S. (remains to be seen)."
To add to the humor, columnists sometimes misspelled the abbreviations. One 1838 example was O.W., meaning "all right," with blatant misspellings of both initial letters. That set the stage for an even more outrageous misspelling in March 1839: O.K., translated as "all correct." The joke was that neither O nor K was correct.
O.K. might have died out with O.W., R.T.B.S., and the rest of the laughable abbreviations if "Old Kinderhook," President Martin Van Buren (born in Kinderhook, New York), hadn't running for reelection in 1840. "O.K. clubs" supporting him were established throughout the country. Old Kinderhook lost, but O.K. won a permanent place in American English.
Until about 1900, however, O.K. remained obscure. Even Mark Twain apparently never used it. But the twentieth century turned out to be an OK century, perhaps encouraged by scholarly President Woodrow Wilson's use of "okeh" on official documents. (He spelled it "okeh" because he mistakenly thought it came from the Choctaw Indian language.) It was streamlined, too, in this century, increasingly written without the periods that mark it as a mock abbreviation. We now live in an OK world where it is difficult to imagine a conversation or a computer session without frequent use of OK.
Word Origin: OK
Origin: 1839
Is it a word, a phrase, an abbreviation, an acronym? Do you spell it O.K., OK, o.k., or okay? Any way, it's OK. This most uncategorizable of Americanisms is categorically the most successful of all time. OK is "all correct."
That was its original meaning, an in-your-face misspelling of the first letter
Answers & Comments
Verified answer
The etymology of OK was described by renowned Columbia University professor Allen Walker Read in a series of articles in the journal “American Speech” in 1963 and 1964. The letters stand for “oll korrect.” They’re the product of a trend for amusing abbreviations that thrived in the late 1830s and 1840s.
Professor Read supported his assertion with hundreds of citations from newspapers and other documents of the period. The abbreviation fad began in Boston in the summer of 1838 and spread to New York and New Orleans in 1839. Boston newspapers began referring mockingly to the local swells as OFM, “our first men,” and used expressions like NG, “no go,” GT, “gone to Texas,” and SP, “small potatoes.”
Many of the abbreviated expressions were embellished misspellings. One forerunner of OK was OW, “oll wright,” and there was also KY, “know yuse,” KG, “know go,” and NS, “nuff said.”
The majority of these acronyms were only briefly popular. But OK was different, probably because it was so versatile. It was first used in print in Boston in March of 1839 and soon became pervasive among trendy folks of the time.
It didn’t become ubiquitous, however, until 1840 when Democratic supporters of Martin “Old Kinderhook” Van Buren adopted it as the name of their political club — the OK Club. Van Buren’s opponents tried to turn the phrase against him, by coming up with unflattering interpretations like “Out of Kash, Out of Kredit, and Out of Klothes.”
Newspapers around the country enjoyed coming up with even goofier interpretations like Oll Killed, Orfully Konfused, and Often Kontradicts. By the time the presidential campaign was over the expression had taken firm root nationwide.
Approval; agreement: Get your supervisor's OK before taking a day off.
adj.
1. Agreeable; acceptable: Was everything OK with your stay?
2. Satisfactory; good: an OK fellow.
3. Not excellent and not poor; mediocre: made an OK presentation.
4. In proper or satisfactory operational or working order: Is the battery OK?
5. Correct: That answer is OK.
6. Uninjured; safe: The skier fell but was OK.
7. Fairly healthy; well: Thanks to the medicine, the patient was OK.
adv.
Fine; well enough; adequately: a television that works OK despite its age.
interj.
Used to express approval or agreement.
tr.v., OK'ed or OK'd or o·kayed, OK'·ing or o·kay·ing, OK's or o·kays.
To approve of or agree to; authorize.
[Abbreviation of oll korrect, slang respelling of all correct.]
WORD HISTORY OK is a quintessentially American term that has spread from English to many other languages. Its origin was the subject of scholarly debate for many years until Allen Walker Read showed that OK is based on a joke of sorts. OK is first recorded in 1839 but was probably in circulation before that date. During the 1830s there was a humoristic fashion in Boston newspapers to reduce a phrase to initials and supply an explanation in parentheses. Sometimes the abbreviations were misspelled to add to the humor. OK was used in March 1839 as an abbreviation for all correct, the joke being that neither the O nor the K was correct. Originally spelled with periods, this term outlived most similar abbreviations owing to its use in President Martin Van Buren's 1840 campaign for reelection. Because he was born in Kinderhook, New York, Van Buren was nicknamed Old Kinderhook, and the abbreviation proved eminently suitable for political slogans. That same year, an editorial referring to the receipt of a pin with the slogan O.K. had this comment: “frightful letters … significant of the birth-place of Martin Van Buren, old Kinderhook, as also the rallying word of the Democracy of the late election, ‘all correct’ .... Those who wear them should bear in mind that it will require their most strenuous exertions … to make all things O.K.”
Antonyms: ok
adv, adj
Definition: acceptable, satisfactory
Antonyms: bad, incorrect, intolerable, unacceptable, unsatisfactory, unsuitable, wrong
n
Definition: agreement
Antonyms: denial, disagreement, refusal, veto
v
Definition: agree to
Antonyms: deny, disagree, forbid, refuse, reject, veto
Word Origins: OK
from American English
This word originated in United States
America's greatest contribution to the English language and indeed to languages all over the world is a joke. Or at least that's how it began.
In the summer of 1838 newspaper columnists in Boston thought nothing funnier than to reduce a phrase to its initials (with an explanation in parentheses). Allen Walker Read, the premier historian of our most famous expression, found this example in the Boston Morning Post of June 12, 1838: "We understand that J. Eliot Brown, Esq., Secretary of the Boston Young Men's Society for Meliorating the Condition of the Indians, F.A.H. (fell at Hoboken, N.J.) on Saturday last at 4 o'clock, p.m. in a duel W.O.O.O.F.C. (with one of our first citizens.) What measures will be taken by the Society in consequence of this heart rending event, R.T.B.S. (remains to be seen)."
To add to the humor, columnists sometimes misspelled the abbreviations. One 1838 example was O.W., meaning "all right," with blatant misspellings of both initial letters. That set the stage for an even more outrageous misspelling in March 1839: O.K., translated as "all correct." The joke was that neither O nor K was correct.
O.K. might have died out with O.W., R.T.B.S., and the rest of the laughable abbreviations if "Old Kinderhook," President Martin Van Buren (born in Kinderhook, New York), hadn't running for reelection in 1840. "O.K. clubs" supporting him were established throughout the country. Old Kinderhook lost, but O.K. won a permanent place in American English.
Until about 1900, however, O.K. remained obscure. Even Mark Twain apparently never used it. But the twentieth century turned out to be an OK century, perhaps encouraged by scholarly President Woodrow Wilson's use of "okeh" on official documents. (He spelled it "okeh" because he mistakenly thought it came from the Choctaw Indian language.) It was streamlined, too, in this century, increasingly written without the periods that mark it as a mock abbreviation. We now live in an OK world where it is difficult to imagine a conversation or a computer session without frequent use of OK.
Word Origin: OK
Origin: 1839
Is it a word, a phrase, an abbreviation, an acronym? Do you spell it O.K., OK, o.k., or okay? Any way, it's OK. This most uncategorizable of Americanisms is categorically the most successful of all time. OK is "all correct."
That was its original meaning, an in-your-face misspelling of the first letter
President Calvin Coolidge could not spell.
When something was right, he would say it was "Orl Korrect" meaning all correct.
So to get his paperwork done faster, he made up a stamp that said OK.
True!
'Oll Korrect'
It was a jokey phonetic version of 'all correct' used in a newspaper somewhen.
I think it stands for Ocho Kisser ........ or Ocho Kicker depending on your mood = )
It stands for "okay"
Its not great its not bad its just alright. My interpretation LOL
(( HUGS MY FRIEND)) Sugar bug