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ago

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ago¹

  • /əˈɡəʊ/ UK
  • /əˈɡoʊ/ US
  • [əˈɡʌo]
  • /ˈə.ɡo/ South Asia
  • [ɐ.ɡoˑ] South Asia

Rhymes with -əʊ

Where it comes from

From Middle English ago, agon (“passed”), past participle of agon (“to depart, escape, pass”), from Old English āgān (“to go away, pass away, go forth, come to pass”), from Proto-Germanic *uz- (“out”), *gāną (“to go”), equivalent to a- + gone, and by surface analysis, a- + go. Cognate with German ergehen (“to come to pass, fare, go forth”). Compare also Old Saxon āgangan (“to go or pass by”), Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌰𐌽 (usgaggan, “to go forth”).

postp agoe · agon · agone · ygo · ygoe

  1. Before now, before the present time I got married ten years ago.

adjective agoe · agon · agone · ygo · ygoe

  1. archaic, dialectal, not comparable Gone; gone by; gone away; passed; passed away. in days ago / in days agone
  2. archaic, dialectal, not comparable Nearly gone; dead. (used in Devonshire at the turn of the 19th century) Woe the day—she is agone!

AGO²

proper noun

  1. abbreviation, initialism Initialism of Attorney General's Office

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: past, agone, formerly, heretofore, former, since, already, previously, afterwards, later, after, earlier, before, beforehand, now, sooner

Translations

Every language

postp past; gone by; since

Españolhace, atrás, ha
한국어전에 jeone
日本語前 mae, 以前に izen ni
中文以前 yǐqián, 之前 zhīqián
हिन्दीपहले pahle, बहुत पहले bahut pahle
Portuguêshá, atrás, faz
Françaisil y a
Deutschvor, her
Italianofa
Ελληνικάπριν prin
Românăînainte cu, în urmă, acum
Русскийтому́ наза́д tomú nazád, наза́д nazád
Tiếng Việttrước đây
العربيةقَبْلَ qabla
עבריתלִפְנֵי lif'néi

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Cite this
MLA

"ago." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/ago. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

ago. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/ago

Chicago

"ago." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/ago.

BibTeX
@misc{ago_2026,
  title = {ago},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/ago},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}