OK or Okay (in English) is a expression used when something is ok, right or what was understood. It is said in the sense of affirming or accepting something.
Ok is an expression of unknown origin and much discussed etymology.
Some scholars believe that the term first appeared on March 23, 1839 in the newspaper "boston morning Post", therefore many people attribute the authorship to the editor of the newspaper, Charles Gordon Greene.
Learn more about the meaning of Okay.
Many also claim that the term is of German origin, a deformation of the expression All Correct (per "Oll Korrekt"), which means "everything is correct".
There is also another theory that claims that the word is of North American Indian origin ok, which was the native language of the Choctaw Indians and meant "yes".
Many opine that the origin of the term is from Greece, since O.K. are the initials of the Greek expression hello kala, which means "everything is fine".
Other theories indicate that OK may have an African origin and that it was brought to the US by slaves, and derives from the expression "
hoc ille” or the “occitan the w" which means "yes".Some historians claim that the expression may have arisen during the US Civil War, as when there was no casualty on the battlefield, "0 killed" (no dead), which in its abbreviated form corresponds to 0K.
Yet another theory states that at the time of slavery in the US, when slaves worked in the southern cotton fields, foremen gave an authorization in French called “wowwhich”, which was understood as “hellokway”, by the non-French, and which meant “yes” or “confirmed”.
A much-discussed theory talks about a hand signal used by American soldiers, which means that everything is fine.
This sign resembles an "O" formed with the thumb and index fingers touching the tips in a circle, and supposedly forming a "K" with the other fingers raised.