# What is the etyma...whatsit origin of 'ok'? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 30, 2006, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-etyma-whatsit-origin-of-ok/370733 "2006-08-30T00:49:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-etyma-whatsit-origin-of-ok/370733/1 "2006-08-30T00:49:09Z")
It seems to be a unique word, one of a kind. Pronounced as if someone asked how it’s spelled. Rather than ‘ok’ (‘sock’ without the ‘s’ sound) it’s ‘owkay’. As far as I know it’s the only word (apart from ‘I’ if ‘I’ is a word) that has that attribute. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-etyma-whatsit-origin-of-ok/370733/2 "2006-08-30T00:53:38Z")
Etymology is the word you’re looking for. As for the etymology of “ok”, read the words of the great [Cecil](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_250) and be enlightened. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-etyma-whatsit-origin-of-ok/370733/3 "2006-08-30T01:06:26Z")
[QUOTE=Lobsang] It seems to be a unique word, one of a kind. Pronounced as if someone asked how it’s spelled. Rather than ‘ok’ (‘sock’ without the ‘s’ sound) it’s ‘owkay’. As far as I know it’s the only word (apart from ‘I’ if ‘I’ is a word) that has that attribute. [/QUOTE] When using software with ‘OK’ buttons, I often think of them as ‘ock’ buttons. 🙂 That Cecil article on the etymology of OK is brilliant, the kind of stuff that caused me to join the SDMB, and, later, subscribe. Am I the only one who first learned ‘OK’ as a spelt-out word ‘okay’, and only later ran into ‘OK’, and thought it was some kind of abbreviation of the longer word? ‘Ow-kay’ rather than ‘oh-kay’? How do you pronounce ‘how’? Or were you thinking of ‘flow’? I’m just wondering whether you have a very different dialect of English than me (southern Ontario). Trivia: ‘Okay’ has made it into Esperanto as ‘okej’, pronounced the same. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-etyma-whatsit-origin-of-ok/370733/4 "2006-08-30T06:48:56Z")
[QUOTE=Lobsang] It seems to be a unique word, one of a kind. Pronounced as if someone asked how it’s spelled. Rather than ‘ok’ (‘sock’ without the ‘s’ sound) it’s ‘owkay’. As far as I know it’s the only word (apart from ‘I’ if ‘I’ is a word) that has that attribute. [/QUOTE] As Q.E.D.'s link shows, OK is an acronym (or initialism for the pedantic) and they are pretty much always pronounced this way. eg: eg, ie, nb … ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-etyma-whatsit-origin-of-ok/370733/5 "2006-08-30T07:31:27Z")
Dashiell Hammet’s detectives all say “Okey”. Just an interesting tidbit… ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-etyma-whatsit-origin-of-ok/370733/6 "2006-08-30T17:06:49Z")
_The Times_ spells it “okay”. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-etyma-whatsit-origin-of-ok/370733/7 "2006-08-30T17:43:43Z")
[QUOTE=Lobsang] It seems to be a unique word, one of a kind. Pronounced as if someone asked how it’s spelled. Rather than ‘ok’ (‘sock’ without the ‘s’ sound) it’s ‘owkay’. As far as I know it’s the only word (apart from ‘I’ if ‘I’ is a word) that has that attribute. [/QUOTE] It isn’t unique. There are many words, or initialisms, of this kind in English. _On the QT_, _he KO’d the guy in the third round_, etc.