This is a list of etymologies

Etymology

Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...

 proposed for the word OK or okay

Okay

"Okay" is a colloquial English word denoting approval, acceptance, agreement, assent, or acknowledgment. "Okay" has frequently turned up as a loanword in many other languages...

. The majority can be easily classified as false etymologies

False etymology

Folk etymology is change in a word or phrase over time resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a more familiar one. Unanalyzable borrowings from foreign languages, like asparagus, or old compounds such as samblind which have lost their iconic motivation are...

, or possibly folk etymologies. H. L. Mencken

H. L. Mencken

Henry Louis "H. L." Mencken was an American journalist, essayist, magazine editor, satirist, acerbic critic of American life and culture, and a scholar of American English. Known as the "Sage of Baltimore", he is regarded as one of the most influential American writers and prose stylists of the...

, in The American Language

The American Language

The American Language, first published in 1919, is H. L. Mencken's book about the English language as spoken in the United States.Mencken was inspired by "the argot of the colored waiters" in Washington, as well as one of his favorite authors, Mark Twain, and his experiences on the streets of...

, lists serious candidates and "a few of the more picturesque or preposterous". Allen Walker Read

Allen Walker Read

Allen Walker Read was an American etymologist and lexicographer, best known for his studies into the words "okay" and "fuck."...

 surveyed a variety of explanations in a 1964 article titled The Folklore of "O. K." Eric Partridge

Eric Partridge

Eric Honeywood Partridge was a New Zealand/British lexicographer of the English language, particularly of its slang. His writing career was interrupted only by his service in the Army Education Corps and the RAF correspondence department during World War II...

 described O.K. as "an evergreen of the correspondence column."

Source language	Source	Context	Date of first usage	Proposer	Date proposed	Notes
English	Initials of "oll korrect"	Coined during a fad for comical misspellings and abbreviations				See Okay: Oll korrect. Documented by Allen Walker Read Allen Walker Read Allen Walker Read was an American etymologist and lexicographer, best known for his studies into the words "okay" and "fuck."...  in 1964, and subsequently widely accepted by dictionaries and etymologists.
Choctaw Choctaw language The Choctaw language, traditionally spoken by the Native American Choctaw people of the southeastern United States, is a member of the Muskogean family...	oke, okeh ("it is")	Frontiersman American pioneer American pioneers are any of the people in American history who migrated west to join in settling and developing new areas. The term especially refers to those who were going to settle any territory which had previously not been settled or developed by European or American society, although the...  trading with Choctaw Choctaw The Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States... s borrowed the word directly or via Mobilian Jargon Mobilian Jargon Mobilian Jargon was a pidgin used as a lingua franca among Native American groups living along the Gulf of Mexico around the time of European settlement of the region...		William S. Wyman		See Okay: Choctaw okeh. The form is a verbal suffix Suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...  "indeed, contrary to your supposition" with modern spelling -okii. Wyman suggested Andrew Jackson had learnt "O.K." from Choctaw and introduced it in the East; others suggest an 18th-century origin.
Wolof Wolof language Wolof is a language spoken in Senegal, The Gambia, and Mauritania, and is the native language of the Wolof people. Like the neighbouring languages Serer and Fula, it belongs to the Atlantic branch of the Niger–Congo language family...	waw-kay (waw "yes" + emphatic -kay )	Introduced by West African slaves		David Dalby	1969	See Okay: Wolof waw-kay. First proposed in the Hans Wolff Memorial Lecture. Dalby did not specify Wolof, suggesting also Mandinka Mandinka language The Mandinka language is a Mandé language spoken by millions of Mandinka people in Mali, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea-Bissau and Chad; it is the main language of The Gambia. It belongs to the Manding branch of Mandé, and is thus fairly...  o ke ("that's it", "certainly"; also "do it"). Liberia Liberia Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open... n Charles Blooah had noted the similarity of Jabo Jabo language The Jabo language is a Kru language spoken by the Jabo people of Liberia. They have also been known in the past as the Gweabo.-Classification:...  affirmative O'-ke in 1937 without asserting any causality.
English	Initials of "oll korrect"	Coined by humorist Josh Billings Josh Billings Josh Billings was the pen name of 19th century American humorist Henry Wheeler Shaw . He was perhaps the second most famous humor writer and lecturer in the United States in the second half of the 19th century after Mark Twain, although his reputation has not endured so well with later...		"Callisthenes"		Proposed in an advertisement in The Times The Times The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International... for Selfridges Selfridges Selfridges, AKA Selfridges & Co, is a chain of high end department stores in the United Kingdom. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge. The flagship store in London's Oxford Street is the second largest shop in the UK and was opened on 15 March 1909.More recently, three other stores have been... ; "Mr. Selfridge Harry Gordon Selfridge Harry Gordon Selfridge, Sr. was an American-born retail magnate, who founded the British department store Selfridges.-Early years:... " purportedly remembered having read Billings as a boy.
English	Initials of "oll korrect"	Misspelling by Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...		James Gordon Bennett, Sr. James Gordon Bennett, Sr. James Gordon Bennett, Sr. was the founder, editor and publisher of the New York Herald and a major figure in the history of American newspapers.-Biography:...		Bennett's story, a fabricated propaganda set "a few years ago", is the first attribution of "O.K." to Jackson, although the quality of Jackson's spelling had already been debated during the 1828 presidential election United States presidential election, 1828 The United States presidential election of 1828 featured a rematch between John Quincy Adams, now incumbent President, and Andrew Jackson, the runner-up in the 1824 election. With no other major candidates, Jackson and his chief ally Martin Van Buren consolidated their bases in the South and New... .
English	Initials of "oll korrect"	Misspelling by John Jacob Astor John Jacob Astor John Jacob Astor , born Johann Jakob Astor, was a German-American business magnate and investor who was the first prominent member of the Astor family and the first multi-millionaire in the United States...		Eliezer Edward
English	Misspelling of "O.R." for "Order Received"	A common mistake in the Western U.S. owing to the similar shapes of the letters R and K.		Albigence Waldo Putnam		The 1790 bill of sale "Andrew Jackson, Esq., proved a bill of sale from Hugh McGary to Gasper Mansker for a negro man, which was O.K." is cited in Putnam's History of Middle Tennessee; the assertion that the misspelling is common is added in James Parton James Parton James Parton was an England-born American biographer.-Biography:Parton was born in Canterbury, England in 1822. He was taken to the United States when he was five years old, studied in New York City and White Plains, New York, and was a schoolmaster in Philadelphia and then in New York... 's 1860 Life of Andrew Jackson. Woodford Heflin in 1939 established that the 1790 bill did in fact read "O.R." rather than "O.K."
English	Initials of "Old Kinderhook"	Nickname for Martin Van Buren Martin Van Buren Martin Van Buren was the eighth President of the United States . Before his presidency, he was the eighth Vice President and the tenth Secretary of State, under Andrew Jackson .... , from his birthplace in Kinderhook, New York Kinderhook (village), New York Kinderhook is a village located in the Town of Kinderhook in Columbia County, New York, United States. The population was 1,211 at the 2010 census.The Village of Kinderhook is located in the south-central part of the town on US 9.... ; used as a slogan in the 1840 presidential election United States presidential election, 1840 The United States presidential election of 1840 saw President Martin Van Buren fight for re-election against an economic depression and a Whig Party unified for the first time behind war hero William Henry Harrison and his "log cabin campaign"...		editor of the New York New Era		Reinterpreted by supporters of rival William Henry Harrison William Henry Harrison William Henry Harrison was the ninth President of the United States , an American military officer and politician, and the first president to die in office. He was 68 years, 23 days old when elected, the oldest president elected until Ronald Reagan in 1980, and last President to be born before the...  as "Out of Kash", "Orful Kalamity", etc. Allen Walker Read suggests this exploited and reinforced the pre-existing "oll korrect" sense.
German German language German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....	Initials of ohne Korrektur ("without correction")			Guido Carreras		In Newsweek Newsweek Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
Russian Russian language Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...	Initials of Ochen Khorosho (Очень Хорошо; "Very Well")			William Courson		The word Khorosho begins with Kha Kha Kha or Ha is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the voiceless velar fricative , like the Scottish pronunciation of ⟨ch⟩ in "loch".Kha is romanized as ⟨kh⟩.-History:...  (Х), not Ka Ka (Cyrillic) Ka is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the voiceless velar plosive , like the pronunciation of ⟨k⟩ in "king".-History:...  (К)
English	Initials of "O'Kelly" or "Obediah Kelly"	An early railroad agent or engineer certifying bills or deliveries.
German	Initials of "Otto Kaiser"	An industrialist certifying his factory's produce for shipping				Reported in 1953 to be widely believed in Germany.
Greek Greek language Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...	Initials of Ola Kala ( Ὅλα Καλά; "everything is fine")	Used by Greek teachers marking students' work. Prominence of Greek shipping Greek shipping The Hellenic Merchant Marine refers to the Merchant Marine of Greece, engaged in commerce and transportation of goods and services universally. It consists of the merchant vessels owned by Greek civilians, flying either the Greek flag or a flag of convenience...  would allow it to be spread by sailors		John Alfred Huybers		In the editor's preface to When I was a boy in Greece, by George Demetrios. Louise Pound Louise Pound Louise Pound was a distinguished American folklorist and college professor at the University of Nebraska.-Early life:...  supported the theory for a time.
Greek Greek language Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...	och, och (ὤχ, ὤχ)	A magical incantation against fleas		W. Snow		Occurs in the Geoponica Geoponica The Geoponica is a twenty-book collection of agricultural lore, compiled during the 10th century in Constantinople for the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus... , 13.15.9. Suggested in a letter to The Times
French French language French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...	au(x) quai(s) ("to the dock")	Said of cotton bales accepted for export from New Orleans				Martin R. Wall wrote in 1963 that he had been told this in France "several years ago".
French French language French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...	au(x) quai(s) ("on the quays")	stencilled on Puerto Rican rum specially selected for export				A conflation of the au quai and Aux Cayes theories.
French French language French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...	au(x) quai(s) ("on the quays")	In the American Revolutionary War American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the... , of French sailors making appointments with American girls		"Beachcomber"		In the Daily Express Daily Express The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
French French language French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...	Aux Cayes (Haiti Haiti Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island... an port)	source of the high-quality rum Rum Rum is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from sugarcane by-products such as molasses, or directly from sugarcane juice, by a process of fermentation and distillation. The distillate, a clear liquid, is then usually aged in oak barrels...
German German language German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....	Initials of Ober Kommando (High Command)	Used by Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben Friedrich Wilhelm August Heinrich Ferdinand von Steuben , also referred to as the Baron von Steuben, was a Prussian-born military officer who served as inspector general and Major General of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War... , inspector general Inspector General An Inspector General is an investigative official in a civil or military organization. The plural of the term is Inspectors General.-Bangladesh:...  of the Continental Army Continental Army The Continental Army was formed after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, it was created to coordinate the military efforts of the Thirteen Colonies in...  the American Revolutionary War American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...  endorsing letters and orders				German article reprinted in the Omaha Tribune. Giving a similar story in a letter to The Times in 1939, Sir Anthony Palmer used the name "General Schliessen" and phrase Oberst Oberst Oberst is a military rank in several German-speaking and Scandinavian countries, equivalent to Colonel. It is currently used by both the ground and air forces of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark and Norway. The Swedish rank överste is a direct translation, as are the Finnish rank eversti...  Kommandant ("colonel in command")
English	Initials of "Open Key"	A global telegraph signal meaning "ready to transmit"				The telegraph was not invented till 1844.
Finnish Finnish language Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...	oikea ("correct")					In Cleveland Public Library Main Library News Notes
English	Initials of Onslow and Kilbracken Hugh Godley, 2nd Baron Kilbracken Hugh John Godley was an Irish nobleman.Hugh Godley succeeded his father as the 2nd Baron Kilbracken in 1932. A barrister, he became counsel to the Lord Chairman of Committees of the House of...	On bill Bill (proposed law) A bill is a proposed law under consideration by a legislature. A bill does not become law until it is passed by the legislature and, in most cases, approved by the executive. Once a bill has been enacted into law, it is called an act or a statute.... s reviewed by the Lord Chairman of Committees of the House of Lords House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....  (Onslow) and his counsel (Kilbracken)		John Godley	1939	A jocular proposal by Kilbracken's son, then a student, in a letter to The Times in response to Sir Anthony Palmer's earlier letter.
Latin Latin Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...	Initials of Omnis Korrecta ("all correct")	Used by early schoolmasters marking examination papers				In a letter in The Vancouver Sun The Vancouver Sun The Vancouver Sun is a daily newspaper first published in the Canadian province of British Columbia on February 12, 1912. The paper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network. It is published six days a week, Monday to Saturday...
English	Initials of "outer keel Keel In boats and ships, keel can refer to either of two parts: a structural element, or a hydrodynamic element. These parts overlap. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in construction of a ship, in British and American shipbuilding traditions the construction is dated from this event... "	Each timber in a wooden-hull Hull (watercraft) A hull is the watertight body of a ship or boat. Above the hull is the superstructure and/or deckhouse, where present. The line where the hull meets the water surface is called the waterline.The structure of the hull varies depending on the vessel type... ed ship would be marked; "O.K. No 1" was the first timber to be laid		John D. Forbes
English	hoacky or horkey	Name for the harvest festival Harvest festival A Harvest Festival is an annual celebration which occurs around the time of the main harvest of a given region. Given the differences in climate and crops around the world, harvest festivals can be found at various times throughout the world...  in eastern England		Wilfred White		Suggested in an article in the Daily Telegraph. The phrase "hocky cry" is attested from 1555.
English	Initials of Orrin Kendall	Suppliers of high-quality biscuits to the Union War Department United States Department of War The United States Department of War, also called the War Department , was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army...  during the American Civil War American Civil War The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25... .				Article in the Chicago Record Herald Chicago Record Herald The Chicago Record Herald was a newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois from 1901 until 1914. It was the successor to the Chicago Morning Herald, the Chicago Times Herald and the Chicago Record. It was succeeded by the Chicago Herald Examiner.... .
Old English	hogfor ("seaworthy")	Shortened to HG, then pronounced by Norwegian and Danish sailors as "hah gay".		Frank Colby		Colby reported the theory in his syndicated column "Take My Word For It", but did not endorse it.
English	Initials of 0K "Zero Killed"	In military dispatches after a battle or combat mission in which no casualties had been suffered		Leon Godchaux		In a letter to Time Time (magazine) Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
Occitan	oc ("yes")	Introduced by colonists in French Louisiana Louisiana (New France) Louisiana or French Louisiana was an administrative district of New France. Under French control from 1682–1763 and 1800–03, the area was named in honor of Louis XIV, by French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle...		F. R. H. McLellan		In The Daily Telegraph The Daily Telegraph The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
Scots Scots language Scots is the Germanic language variety spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster . It is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language variety spoken in most of the western Highlands and in the Hebrides.Since there are no universally accepted...	och aye ("ah, yes")	Scottish immigrants Scottish American Scottish Americans or Scots Americans are citizens of the United States whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in Scotland. Scottish Americans are closely related to Scots-Irish Americans, descendants of Ulster Scots, and communities emphasize and celebrate a common heritage...		"Barbarian"		In a letter in The Observer The Observer The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
Ulster Scots	ough aye ("oh, yes")	Brought by Scotch-Irish American immigrants		Mary Degges		A variant of the "och, aye" theory Degges heard in Belfast Belfast Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly... ; the Ulster pronunciation is purportedly closer to "OK" that the Scottish equivalent.
French French language French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...	O qu'oui ("ah, yes")	Emphatic form of "yes"		William McDevitt		Occurs in A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy is a novel by the Irish-born English author Laurence Sterne, written and first published in 1768, as Sterne was facing death. In 1765, Sterne travelled through France and Italy as far south as Naples, and after returning determined to describe his... by Laurence Sterne Laurence Sterne Laurence Sterne was an Irish novelist and an Anglican clergyman. He is best known for his novels The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, and A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy; but he also published many sermons, wrote memoirs, and was involved in local politics... .
English	Initials of "Old Keokuk Keokuk (Sauk chief) Keokuk was a chief of the Sauk or Sac tribe in central North America noted for his policy of cooperation with the U.S. government which led to conflict with Black Hawk, who led part of their band into the Black Hawk War... "	The Sac chief signed treaties with these initials				Appears in the Century Dictionary Century Dictionary The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia was one of the largest encyclopedic dictionaries of the English language. The first edition was published from 1889 to 1891 by The Century Company of New York, in six, eight, or ten volume versions in 7,046 pages with some 10,000 wood-engraved illustrations...  in 1890.
French	au courant	Jocular		F.J. Burstall		Proposed in Notes and Queries Notes and Queries Notes and Queries is a long-running quarterly scholarly journal that publishes short articles related to "English language and literature, lexicography, history, and scholarly antiquarianism". Its emphasis is on "the factual rather than the speculative"...