The story of ”O” lexemes

ALDOOCDOW reaches one of the key letters in lexicon entries, “O”, the great connector of syllables. The story of “O”, the 15th letter and fourth vowel in the alphabet, is an interesting one. Circular in shape like the number zero, the letter “O” surfaces for the first time in writing systems in the Semitic languages some time around 1,000BC as a consonant (the cognate Arabic letter ayin which possibly evolved earlier from a hieroglyphic sign representing an eye). When it reached the archaic Greeks “O” morphed into the vowel we recognise in English today.

Obeliscolychny: a lighthouse [Gk. obelískos (“obelisk”) + –lukhníon (“lamp-stand”)]

Obelise: to condemn as spurious, doubtful or corrupt [Gk. obelós, (“obelus” – a sharpened stick, spit, or pointed pillar)]

Obequitate: to ride about; to ride aimlessly on a horse 🐎 [L. ob + equito (“to ride”)]

Obganiate: to irritate someone by constantly repeating oneself [It. ostinato (“obstinate”; ”persistent”)]

Oblectation: enjoyment; pleasure; satisfaction [L. oblectare (“to delight”)]

Oblivescence: forgetfulness; forgetting [L. oblīv(īscī) (“to forget”) + (–influenced by -escenc)]

Oblocutor: one who denies or disputes [L. obloqui (“to speak against”) + -or]

Obrogate: to alter the law by passing a new law [L. ob- (“toward; “against”) + rogare (“to ask”, “propose”, “propose a law”)]

Obsidional: of, like or pertaining to a siege [L. obsidēre (“beset”; “besiege”; “hem in”)]

Obsolagnium: waning sexual desire due to age [L. ob- (“in the way”) + –sol (?) + Gk. -lagneía (“sexual predilection”) ]

Obtenebrate: to cast a shadow over; to darken as if by shadowing [L. ob-(“to”; “toward”; “over”) + -tenebrae (“darkness”)] (cf. Obumbrate: to overshadow)

Obvert: to turn; to alter; to change the appearance or seeming of [L. ob- + vertere (“to turn”)]

Occlusion: closing or blocking off of an opening, passage or cavity [L. -ob (“in the way”) + -claudere (“to close or shut”)]

Ochlarchy: mob rule [Gk. ochlo (“mob”) + -archy (“rule”)]

Octamerous: having parts in eights [Gk. okta, okt (“eight”) + -meros (“part”)] (cf. Octan: recurring every eight days)

Octothorp: hash sign/tag (also called number sign or pound sign) #️⃣ [Gk. octō- (“eight”) + (?) –thorpe (“field”; “hamlet”; “small village”)] (Word apparently coined by staff at Bells Telephone Labs, late 1960s)

Odalisque: female slave or concubine in a harem (esp of the Ottoman sultan’s) Fr. from Turk. odalık, (orig.) oda (“room”)]

Odontalgia: toothache 🦷 [Gk. odóus (“tooth”) + –álgos (“pain”)]

Oecist: founder of a colony [Gk. from oîkos house + -istēs (“-ist”). The oíkistēs was the citizen chosen by an ancient Greek polis as the leader of any new colonisation quest

Oecodomic: of, like or pertaining to architecture [(?) Gk. oec (“house”) + L. –dom (“house”) + -ic(?)]

Oenologist: a person who studies wines and winemaking [Gk. oînos (“wine”) + -logia (“study of”)] 🍷

Ogee: a double curve, resembling the letter S (or serpentine shape or sigmoid shape); S-shaped [MidEng ogeus (?)]

Oikofugic: a desire to leave home; an urge to wander or travel [Gk. oîkos (“household”) + L. fugere (“to flee”); coined by psychologist G Stanley Hall, 1904 (cf. Obambulate: (“to wander about”) 🧳 (cf. Oikotropic: the desire to stay put at home)

Oikology: the science of houses and homes, especially in respect of their sanitary conditions [Gk. oîkos + -logy] 🏠

Oikonisus: desire to start a family [Gk. oîkos + -nīsus (“planting one’s feet firmly on the ground”)]

Oleaginous: oily; resembling oil: marked by an offensively ingratiating manner or quality [Gk. elaia (“olive”) + -ous]

Olecranon: a bony prominence at the elbow, on the upper end of the ulna; the tip of the elbow; the funny bone [Gk. ōlenē (“elbow”) + -kranion (“skull”)]

Olent: having a scent; fragrant [L. olere (“to smell”)]

Oligophrenia: feeble–mindedness [Gk. olígos (“few”; “scanty”) + -phrēn, (“diaphragm”; “mind”; “heart”)]

Olio: miscellany; potpourri [L. olla (“cooking pot”)]

Ollamh: (or Ollam) (hist) in ancient Ireland, a man of science or learning, considered equivalent to a university professor [Old Irish ollam (“doctor”)]

Ololygmancy: fortune-telling by the howling of dogs 🐕 [Gk. ololuzō (“howl”) + -manteia (“prophecy”)]

Ombiblous: a person who drinks everything, alcohol/non-alcohol 🍸 [Gk. om (?) + –bibere (“to drink”) coined by HL Mencken]

Ombrophilous: tolerant of large amounts of rainfall [ómbros (“rain”) + -philos (“love”)] 🌧️

Omneity: state of being all; allness [Gk. ómnis (“all”) + -ity]

Omnify: to make large or universal [Gk. ómnis + –fy]

Omniloquent: speaking on all subjects [Gk. ómnis + loqui (“to speak”)]

Omnivert: a personality trait that alternates between introvert and extrovert polarities [L. omnis (“all”) + –versus, -vertere (“invert”)] (cf. Ambivert: similar, but more of a balance between the two extremes)

Omphaloskepia: navel-gazing; the contemplation of one’s navel as an aid to meditation [Gk. omphalós, (“navel”) + sképsis, (“perception”; “reflection”)] (cf. Omphaloslopsychite) 👁️

Omphalos: the navel; a boss; the centre or hub of something [Gk. omphalós (“navel”)]

Onanism: masturbation; gratify oneself through sexual self-stimulation NewLat. onanismus, from Onan, son of Judah (Book of Genesis)]

Oniomania: uncontrollable urge to shop; a retail therapy preoccupation and compulsion [Gk. ṓnios, (“for sale”) + -mania]

Oneirodynia: nightmare; unpleasant or painful dream [Gk. oneiros (“dream”) + -odynē (“pain”)] (cf. Oneirology: the scientific study of dreams)

Onomasiology: study of nomenclature [Gk. onomázō (“I name”) +‎ -logy]

Onomatous: bearing the author’s name [Gk. onomat, onoma (“name”) + -ous]

Ontocyclic: returning to an infantile state or character in old age [Gk. ont + -kuklós (“circular”)]

Ontological: based upon being or existence [Gk. ontós (“existing”; “being”) + –logia (“study”) + -al] (cf. Ontology: (metaphysics) science of pure being; the nature of things)

Onychophagia: practice/habit of biting one’s fingernails [Gk. ónux (“nail”) + –phagos (“eater”)] 💅

Onymous: having a name [back-formed from “anonymous”]

Ophelimity: economic satisfaction; the ability to please another [Gk. ōphelimos “useful”; “helpful”. Coined by Italian polymath Prof Vilfredo Pareto]

Opiniaster: (someone) obstinately attached to their opinion; (obsol.) an opinionated person [MidFr. opinionastre, opiniatre, from L. opinio (“opinion”; “conjecture”) + -aster]

Opisthosomal: of, like or pertaining to the posterior region of the body [New Latin, from opistho– (“back”; “rear”; “behind”) + –soma (“body”)]

Oppidan: an urbanite, a resident of a town, townsman; (formerly) an inhabitant of a university town not a member of the university or a university student residing in the town but not in the college [L. oppidum (“chiefly walled or fortified town”)]

Opsigamy: one who marries late in life [Gk. opsi (“late”) + –gámos (“marriage”)]

Opsimathy: learning or education that occurs late in life [Gk. opsi + –manthanein (“to learn”)]

Opsiproligery: the ability to still have children late in life [Gk. opsi + (?) -proligery(?)]

Opsomaniac: a person with an extreme enthusiasm for a particular food, esp a delicacy [Gk. opson (“rich food”; “delicacy” + -mania] (cf. Opsophagy: the eating of delicacies)

Orarian: coastal; a coast-dweller [L. ōrārius (“ora”, “of or belonging to the coast”)]

Orgulous: proud; haughty [Anglo-Fr. orguillus, from orguil “pride” of Germanic origin]

Ornithoscelidamania: an obsession with dinosaurs 🦖 [Gk. ornís (“bird”) + –celida(?) + -mania]

Orthographer: a person who is skilled in orthography (the conventions of the spelling system of a language); an expert speller [L. orthós (“straight”) + LateLat. -graphus (“grapher”) + -er]

Oryzovorous: rice-eating 🍚 [Gk. óruza (“rice”) + -vorare, -vorax (“devour”)]

Oscular: of, like or pertaining to the mouth or to kissing [L. ōscul(um) kiss”; “mouth”) + -ar]

Ostiary: doorkeeper; doorman; porter 🚪 [L. from ostium (“door”; “mouth of a river”) + -arius (-ary)]

Otiose: lacking use or effect; producing no useful result; idle, reluctant to work or exert oneself [L. ōtiōsus (“idle”), from ōtium (“ease”)]

Outlier: (orig.) a person whose residence and place of business are at a distance; something (someone) that lies outside the main body or entity; person or thing that is atypical within a particular group, class, or category [Eng. (17th. out + -lier (“to lie”)]

Ovine: sheep-like 🐑 [L. ovis (“sheep”) + -ine]

Ovivorous: egg-eating 🥚 [L. ōvum (“egg”) + –vorare (“to devour”)]

Oxyacaesthesia: extreme sharpness of senses [Gk. oxús “sharp”; “pointed”) + -aisthēsis (“sensation”)] (cf. Oxyblepsia: extremely keen sight/ Oxygeusia: extremely keen sense of taste/ Oxyphonia: sharpness or shrillness of voice)/Oxyesthesia: being extremely sensitive to touch)

Ozostomia: bad breath [Gk. ózein (“smell”) + –stóma (“mouth”)]