o'
/ə/US/oʊ/
o' is the contraction of of.
o' is the contraction of on.
Meaning of of
Preposition
of
- From (a place); off.
- Take the chicken out of the freezer.
- Since, from (a given time, earlier state etc.).
- He hasn't been well of late.
- From, away from (a position, number, distance etc.).
- There are no shops within twenty miles of the cottage.
- Indicating removal, absence or separation, with the action indicated by a transitive verb and the quality or substance by a grammatical object.
- Finally she was relieved of the burden of caring for her sick husband.
- Indicating removal, absence or separation, with resulting state indicated by an adjective.
- He seemed devoid of human feelings.
- Indicating removal, absence or separation, construed with an intransitive verb.
- He was kindly treated by the people at Saco, and recovered of his wounds.1822, Jacob Bailey Moore, New Hampshire, volume 1, page 5
Meaning of on
Preposition
on
- Positioned at the upper surface of, touching from above.
- A vase of flowers stood on the table.
- Positioned at or resting against the outer surface of; attached to.
- He had a scar on the side of his face.
- Covering.
- He wore old shoes on his feet.
- At or in (a geographical location or position).
- The lighthouse that you can see is on the mainland.
- At (a relative spatial position).
- We live on the edge of the city.
- Near; adjacent to; alongside; just off.
- The fleet is on the American coast.
Prefix capitalized: O'
O'
- descendant of; used to form Irish patronymic surnames.
- O'Reilly
Forms of o'
| alternative form | o |
|---|---|
| alternative form | a |
Origin of o'
From Irish Ó. Unrelated to English o' (“of”).
Words formed from o'
- back o’ Bourke
- Besses o' th' Barn
- Brig o' Turk
- Cambus o' May
- cat-o’-nine-tails
- come-o'-will
- gottle o' geer
- hop-o'-my-thumb
- Irlams o' th' Height
- Jack o' the clock
- jack-o’-lantern
- John O'Gaunt
- John o’ Groats
- Land o' Cakes
- light-o'-love
- man o' war
- man-o'-war suit
- man-o’-war
- Osoyoos
- o’clock
- peep o' day
- Peep o' Day Boy
- rickle o' banes
- Run-O-Waters
- run-o’-the-mill
- stars o' mine
- Tom o' Bedlam
- whip-o'-will
- Will o' the Wikes
- will o' the wisp
- will-o’-the-wisp
Phrases with o'
- o' course
- cup o' joe
- men o' war
- pot o' one
- cups o' joe
- pots o' one
- all o' y'all
- peeps o' day
- sack o' shit
- bag o' tricks
- light o' love
- sacks o' shit
24 more phrasesFewer phrases
- back o' beyond
- back o' Bourke
- John o' Groats
- land o' Goshen
- lights o' love
- Tom o' Bedlams
- Toms o' Bedlam
- cat o' mountain
- John o' Groat's
- rickle o' bones
- run o' the mill
- cat o' mountains
- Land o' the Leal
- Peep o' Day Boys
- rickles o' banes
- rickles o' bones
- cat o' nine tails
- will o' the wisps
- Jack o' the clocks
- Jacks o' the clock
- Ring a Ring o' Roses
- Ring a Ring o' Rosie
- a plague o' both your houses
- it takes a heap o' livin' to make a house a home
Words that rhyme with o'
Questions about o'
- What does o' mean?
- O' means descendant of; used to form Irish patronymic surnames.
- What is o' the contraction of?
- O' is the contraction of of.
- What part of speech is o'?
- O' is a prefix.
- How do you pronounce o'?
- O' is pronounced /ə/.
Words near o' in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: o' (page history and authors); O' (page history and authors); of (page history and authors); on (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-o'.wav.
Cite this entry: “o'.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/o%27. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.