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of

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

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By · Reviewed against Wiktionary & Hunspell sources ·

Letters

2 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "of", 2-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "of" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "of" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

of is aEnglishprep. It means: Expressing distance or motion. Pronounced /ɒv/. It ranks #4 in English word frequency. Often confused with on and or.

Key facts for of
PropertyValue
Headwordof
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechPrep
IPA/ɒv/
Letters2
Frequency rank#4
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of of in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for of is 2 letters long, classified as aprep, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɒv/. Corpus data places it at rank #4 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 40 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

No frequent misspelling variants are recorded for of in our index, suggesting the orthography either follows predictable English patterns or the word is uncommon enough that typo corpora lack signal.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "on", "or", "OH", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó Proto-Germanic *ab Proto-West Germanic *ab Old English æf Old English of Middle English of English of From Middle English of, from Old English of (“from, out of, off”), an unstressed form of æf, from Proto-West Germ… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is of, spelled O-F, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Expressing distance or motion.
  2. 2
    Expressing distance or motion.
  3. 3
    Expressing distance or motion.
  4. 4
    Expressing separation.
  5. 5
    Expressing separation.
  6. 6
    Expressing separation.
  7. 7
    Expressing origin.
  8. 8
    Expressing origin.
  9. 9
    Expressing origin.
  10. 10
    Expressing origin.
  11. 11
    Expressing origin.
  12. 12
    Expressing agency.
  13. 13
    Expressing agency.
  14. 14
    Expressing agency.
  15. 15
    Expressing composition, substance.
  16. 16
    Expressing composition, substance.
  17. 17
    Expressing composition, substance.
  18. 18
    Expressing composition, substance.
  19. 19
    Expressing composition, substance.
  20. 20
    Introducing subject matter.
  21. 21
    Introducing subject matter.
  22. 22
    Introducing subject matter.
  23. 23
    Having partitive effect.
  24. 24
    Having partitive effect.
  25. 25
    Having partitive effect.
  26. 26
    Having partitive effect.
  27. 27
    Expressing possession.
  28. 28
    Expressing possession.
  29. 29
    Expressing possession.
  30. 30
    Forming the "objective genitive".
  31. 31
    Forming the "objective genitive".
  32. 32
    Expressing qualities or characteristics.
  33. 33
    Expressing qualities or characteristics.
  34. 34
    Expressing qualities or characteristics.
  35. 35
    Expressing qualities or characteristics.
  36. 36
    Expressing a point in time.
  37. 37
    Expressing a point in time.
  38. 38
    Expressing a point in time.
  39. 39
    Expressing a point in time.
  40. 40
    Expressing a point in time.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó Proto-Germanic *ab Proto-West Germanic *ab Old English æf Old English of Middle English of English of From Middle English of, from Old English of (“from, out of, off”), an unstressed form of æf, from Proto-West Germanic *ab, from Proto-Germanic *ab (“away; away from”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó (“away”). Doublet of off, which is the stressed descendant of the same Old English word. More at off.

This word in other languages

Spanish(Español)Portuguese(Português)French(Français)German(Deutsch)

Frequency rank: #4 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "of"?
"of" is spelled O-F. The IPA pronunciation is /ɒv/.
What does "of" mean?
As a prep, "of" means: Expressing distance or motion.
What words are commonly confused with "of"?
"of" is commonly confused with "on", "or", "OH". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "of"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "of" is /ɒv/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "of"?
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó Proto-Germanic *ab Proto-West Germanic *ab Old English æf Old English of Middle English of English of From Middle English of, from Old English of (“from, out of, off”), an unstressed form of æf, from Proto... See the full etymology section above for more details.
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Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter O in our English index:

All "O" wordsABCDEFGHIJKL

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.