O (letter)

O is a letter of the Latin alphabet. It is the fifteenth letter of most variants of the Latin alphabet, being placed after N and before P: for instance it is the case in the English alphabet. Its English name is pronounced [ˈəʊ] or [ˈoʊ], like the exclamation oh!

Use in English

o represents various (usually) back vowel sounds. It is very versatile, with three irregular sounds, move (oô), wolf (ù) and women (í: the accents show stress and pronunciation: see English phonemes).

But normally:

The short sound: dóg, sóft, góne, sóng, lóng, alóng, cróss, lóst, hóp, dóck, ród, nód, sóft, nót negative = knót tie, dóll, knóll (cf. pôll, tôll).

The long sound, a diphthong which approximates to schwa followed by ù: bôat, flôat, hôpe, strôve, thôugh, nôse, gôes, gô, nô, lôw, knôw, grôw, thrôw, ôcean, prôven (or proven, û, like prove, move), phãrôah Egypt = Fãrôe Islands, ôpen, sôap, unmarked and unstressed in cháperôn (sh-), BrE brôoch. Before l for some BrE and antipodean speakers the long sound is more like ó plus ù: Pôland, sôul spirit = sôle only, fish, strôll, tôll (cf. dóll), bôwl (cf. hòwl). Compare the two ôs in Rôlling Stônes. Only the long sound can end a word: tornâdô, Plâtô, lîdô, agô.

ò is exactly like ú in sún (before gh, m, n, th, v especially): òther, mòther, bròther, wòrry, wònder, hòney, mòney, frònt, gòvern, òven, còver, lòver, shòvel, dòzen, nòthing, còlour (AmE còlor) hue (cf. cóllar shirt). It is a very common mistake for learners to pronounce this ò like the ó in óff.

ú is more common in monosyllables than ò: sóck, sôak, súck; cót, côat, cút.

When ò does occur in monosyllables, there is a typical pattern with v: lòve, abòve, glòve, dòve, shòve; and also tòn, òne 1 = wòn victor (*wún), dòes, dòth.

ò often combines with ú, rendering itself redundant, as in yoúng, noúrish, floúrish, Doúglas, roúgh, coúple, doúble, troúble (cf. búbble), coúntry, coúntryside, soúthern (cf. sòuth).

That is different from the còw diphthong sound in còunt number còunty district, vòw, clòud, òut, vòwel, tòwer, dòubt, òwl, fòwl bird = fòul horrible, tòwel, dròught, sòuth, cròwd, sòund, nòw, hòwl (cf. bôwl) and before (e)r: pòwer, tòwer, glòur, dòwry, flòwer plant = (for most speakers) flòur dough.

òu is in final position only in thòu (dh-). There is also oû: yoû, coûp revolution (= coô bird), soûp (p pronounced) and ou as w from French as in Ouagadoûgou (*Wágadûgu) and ouìja-bŏard (*uwêejəbŏrd).

ŏ is very common, usually in ŏr, but also ŏur, ŏugh and ŏa (and also spelt åu, åw, etc.): ŏr, nŏrth, pŏrt, lŏrd, swŏrd, mŏrning, ŏught, bŏught, sŏught, brŏught, bŏrn, swŏrn, hŏrse, cŏrd rope = chŏrd music, Nŏra, Dŏra, Flŏra name = flŏra flowers (cf. fåuna), Pŏrtugal, yŏur, yŏurs, cŏurse, sŏurce, resŏurce, fŏur, gŏurd, mŏurn, abrŏad, brŏad, bŏar, ŏar.

When this sound has stress, -ŏre is usual at the end of a word: deplŏre, swŏre, bŏre, mŏre and ŏre.

But: abhŏr, fŏur 4 = fŏr sake, and pŏre skin = pŏur drink = pŏor misery (though poôr for many speakers).

-or is, however, usually schwa at the end of a word, -ər, showing an agent (as with -er): dóctor, tráctor, fáctor, objéctor, léctor, próctor, projéctor, and the verb héctor, from the name Héctor.

-ŏrr is found only in names: Cŏrr, Ŏrr (= ŏr alternative), Andŏrra, which rhymes with Pandŏra in AmE - BrE Andórra, cf. Dórrit.

But or is pronounced with the longer schwa-like sound of ër and ür after w: wörd, wörld, wörm, wörth, wörk, wörse, wörst - and also in attörney. It is a common mistake for learners to pronounce it the same as ŏr; in fact it is the same sound as in ëarth, fïrst, nërvous, türn, chürn, bürn, cërtain and hürt. The ŏ sound after w is in fact spelt å: wårn, Wårner, wårm, wåll, wålnút, wåter (cf. wâfer, wâit, wâve; ẁhat, ẁasp, ẁad).

The ër sound is spelt öur in jöurney, jöurnal, adjöurn, cöurteous, cöurtesy politeness (cf. cürtsey bow) scöurge, böurbon and unstressed in Lúxembourg. And, directly from French, öeuvre (*ërvrə, sometimes written œuvre).

ŏ forms diphthongs with i and y: 'cŏin, bŏy, tŏy, jŏint, jŏin, vŏid, ŏil, fŏil, jŏy, destrŏy, állŏy, almost always y at the end of a word and i in other positions - very often before l or n. But names can ignore this rule: Jŏyce, Rôlls Rŏyce, Flŏyd, Bŏyd. oi is weak, schwa, for most speakers in pŏrpoise, tŏrtoise.

oo is a special case, with five different pronunciations (without counting accidental clashes of two regular pronunciations such as in coóperate and coŏrdinate, both with the prefix cô-). It functions like a letter in its own right:

1. Like ú in fún or ò in mòther, only in blòod and flòod.

2. Like ô in gô, only in BrE brôoch and Rôosevelt.

3. As ŏor instead of ŏr at the end of monosyllables: dŏor, pŏor, flŏor (though some pronounce these -oôr).

4. Like ù in pùt, fùll: coòk, soòt, foòt, woòd tree (= woùld if), goòd (cf. coùld), oòmph.

5. Most commonly, like û in illûminate - but never with the invisible consonantal y sound which is so often heard at the beginning of û as in tûne.

Usually before voiced consonants: broôd, soôn, moôn, foôd, boôn, toôl, foôl, stoôl, oôh!, oôdles, choôse (*choôz) but also before unvoiced consonants: loôse (*lûce), hoôp, loôp, stoôp.

toô also = tŵo number = to preposition are pronounced the same - although of course to is usually weak, so it normally has the schwa sound. The same oô sound is found spelt with one o in do, move and prove.

Example: 'Hê has hád toô many drínks - díd he háve to drínk tŵo toô many, do yoû thínk? What moved hím to?’, ‘But cán yoû prove it?’

ough

ough has nine different pronunciations:

úff: enoúgh, toúgh, roúgh

óff: tróugh, cóugh, Góugh

ŏ, before t: nŏught, thŏught, ŏught

û: throûgh, throughòut

òu: bòugh, Slòugh, dròught

ô: dôugh, thôugh, althôugh

schwa, (though for AmE speakers, this can be ô): bòrough (*búrə), thòrough (*thúrə), Scàrborough (cf. Édinburgh, both -brə in BrE)

úp: only in híccough (alternative spelling of híccup) ó: only in lóugh (Irish spelling of lóch, same pronunciation)

Irregular o’s

Usually pronounced oô or ù/oò, never û:

Spelling	Pronunciation
approve	*approôv
Boer	*Bûer
bosom	*bùzəm
canoe	*canoô
croissant	*kwússón (French nasal -ón)
do	*doô
lasso	*lássoô
Lesotho	*Lesûtu
lose	*loôz
move	*moôv
prove	*proôv
shoe foot	shoô away
to preposition	toô also, many = tŵo number
tomb	*toôm
who	*hoô
whose	*hoôz
wolf	*wùlf
woman	*wùmən
women	*wímmin
Worcester	*Wùstə (AmE -r)

With do (*doô), compare dôe animal = dôugh bake.

With to preposition (= toô many, also = tŵo number, compare tôe foot, toúgh strong = túff rock.

ous versus -us

-ous forms adjectives, -us forms nouns.

Adjectives: pàrlous, treméndous, màrvellous, trémulous, cöurteous, magnánimous, précious, disāstrous (minus the e of disāster).

Nouns (especially names): ábacus, sýllabus, ómnibus (whence bús), nímbus, cûmulus, óctopus, sánctus, fôcus, crôcus, Màrcus, Catúllus, Horâtius (*Horâyshəss). The majority of these are from Latin, or Greek through Latin. There are further examples under u. Thelônious Mònk was an exception – but he was originally Thêlius.

The noun suffix -our becomes -or- before -ous: hûmorous, glámorous.

òw and ôw: òw stressed in monosyllables: hòw, nòw, bròwn, còw, fròwn, bòw down, vòw, wòw, AmE plòw (BrE plòugh) and in: còward, còwardly, glòwer, flòwer, pòwer, Gòwer, shòwer, nòwadays.

ôw stressed in monosyllables: lôw, sôw seed (= sew needle) môw, tôw pull (= tôe foot) and unstressed at the end of words of two syllables: yéllôw, shállôw, hóllôw, gállôws, nárrôw, bórrôw, árrôw, fúrrôw, fállôw.

oê, from Greek oi, is quite rare. It can be written as a single letter, œ, but this is rather unusual nowadays, e alone often being used instead, especially in America. But you might see Phœbe, fœtus, œnology, Œdipus, phœnix bird (= Phoênix Arizona), œstrogen instead of Phoêbe, foêtus, oênology, Oêdipus, phoênix, oêstrogen. And, from French, there is œuvre (*ërvrə).

gôes (cf. dòes do, dôes animals) and the plurals, tôes, potâtoes, AmE tomâtoes, BrE tomàtoes, peccadíllôes are of course not Greek oi and just have the ô sound. But not all plurals have the e: volcânos, tornâdos, hâlos, concërtos (consh-). The longer the word has been in the English language, the more likely it is to have -ôes; there is alas no other rule.

pêople has the same vowel sound as œ, but with the letters reversed, and the o completely redundant, as it is also in léopard and jéopardy (cf. jéalousy).