Od or odd?
od is a noun meaning “A hypothetical force or natural power, which was supposed by Carl Reichenbach…”; odd is an adjective meaning “Differing from what is usual, ordinary or expected”. Use od as a noun and odd as an adjective (odd is also a noun: “Something left over, not forming part of a set”). They sound the same (/ɒd/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) odd is about 11 times as common as od.
What is the difference between od and odd?
| od | odd | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | adjective, noun, suffix |
| Meaning | A hypothetical force or natural power, which was supposed by Carl Reichenbach and others to inhere in certain people and produce phenomena such as animal… | Differing from what is usual, ordinary or expected Peculiar, singular and strange in looks or character; eccentric, bizarre informalSomething left over, not forming part of a set |
| Example | none recorded | She slept in, which was very odd |
| Forms | ODs | odder, oddest |
| Pronunciation | /ɒd/ /ɑd/ /əʊd/ | /ɒd/ /ɔd/ /ɑd/ |
| In writing | 2.5 times per million words | 26 times per million words |
Sources: od and odd in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of od and odd
od
- 1
A hypothetical force or natural power, which was supposed by Carl Reichenbach and others to inhere in certain people and produce phenomena such as animal magnetism and mesmerism, and to be developed…
- 2
informalInitialism of overdose
- 3
informalAbbreviation of overdose (to take an overdose)
- 4
Alternative letter-case form of od
- 5
Initialism of Doctor of Optometry
- 6
Initialism of overdrive
- 7
Initialism of overdraft
- 8
Initialism of optical density
odd
- 1
Differing from what is usual, ordinary or expected
She slept in, which was very odd
- 2
informalSomething left over, not forming part of a set
I’ve got three complete sets of these trading cards for sale, plus a few dozen odds
- 3
Initialism of oppositional defiant disorder
- 4
Plus some indeterminate fraction not amounting to the next higher round number or significant digit; and change; -some
twenty-odd identifiable factors affecting the outcome
- 5
Peculiar, singular and strange in looks or character; eccentric, bizarre
- 6
An odd number
So let’s see. There are two evens here and three odds
- 7
Initialism of optical disc drive
- 8
Without a corresponding mate in a pair or set; unmatched; (of a pair or set) mismatched
Optimistically, he had a corner of a drawer for odd socks
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, od or odd?
od appears 2.5 times per million words; odd 26 times per million words.
od 2.5 times per million wordsodd 26 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).