Everyday lifeMyths & disputes

OK

OK began as a joke: 'O.K.' for 'oll korrect', a deliberate misspelling of 'all correct' in the 1839 Boston craze for comic abbreviations. Van Buren's 1840 campaign ('Old Kinderhook') made it famous; telegraphers, soldiers and Hollywood then carried it into almost every language.

Weakest linkProbable

The story you may have heard

From Choctaw okeh 'it is so', Scots 'och aye', Greek óla kalá 'all is good', or a Wolof or Mande word. Each has had champions (Choctaw was the dictionary favourite before the 1960s), but none matches the 1839 Boston evidence.

The road to American English

From American English to English

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1839American English

Hops are evenly spaced; labels show the year each form is first attested.

The road to American English

Export “OK”

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Export “OK”

Embed “OK”

Save “OK”