-o
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-o¹
- /əʊ/ UK
- /əʉ/ Australia
- [æ̠ʉ~ɐʉ] Australia
- /oʊ/ US
Where it comes from
Originally a special use of the interjection O or oh appended to street cries and nautical calls to project a hail or shout (as in milk-oh, smoke-oh, and sail-ho). Its later use as a colloquializing noun suffix, particularly prominent in Australian English, developed from the substantivation of these cries (e.g., smoko), reinforced by early nautical adaptations of Mediterranean Lingua Franca or pseudo‐Spanish words (such as guardo). As noted by the Australian National Dictionary, this vocative “hailing” origin naturally led to its frequent attachment to personal names to form nicknames (e.g., John‐o, Jacko).
Some senses may also derive from o (“one”), from Middle English o, oo, a variant of a, on, oon, an (“one”). See one and -y.
suffix -os · -oes · more -o · most -o · -oh
- A vocative or exclamative particle appended to street cries, nautical calls, or names to project a hail or shout. smoke + -o → smoko
- A colloquializing suffix, typically appended to names, abbreviations of long words, or substantive uses of adjectives. kid + -o → kiddo
-o²
- /əʊ/ UK
- /əʉ/ Australia
- [æ̠ʉ~ɐʉ] Australia
- /oʊ/ US
Where it comes from
From many Spanish or Italian words that end in o. This ending in such Spanish or Italian words generally derives from -um, the accusative singular inflectional ending for masculine and neuter nouns in Latin.
suffix
- Converts certain words to faux Italian or Spanish. Can be used with Spanish el for expressions such as el stinko. no problemo
-o³
- /əʊ/ UK
- /əʉ/ Australia
- [æ̠ʉ~ɐʉ] Australia
- /oʊ/ US
Where it comes from
Rebracketing of typo.
suffix -os
- Added to verb stems to create a noun describing an error relating to the action described by the verb.
Talk about this word "-o." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/-o. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. -o. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/-o "-o." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/-o.Cite this
@misc{o_2026,
title = {-o},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/-o},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
