Spanish words that start with O
Here’s a vocabulary list with words starting with O:
History of The Letter O
The vowel O is the seventeenth letter in the Spanish alphabet. Until recently, the letter O was always accentuated; to which it was accentuated only when going between numbers, since it could be confused with a zero (40 ó 50); but since 2010 the accent has been permanently deleted.
The letter O appears in Egyptian hieroglyphics in the shape of a human eye looking ahead. The Phoenicians schematized the symbol giving it a simple circular form and recalling its origin by calling the letter ayin ‘eye’. The Greeks took it already reduced and then the Romans.
The O in the Romance languages is derived from its Latin antecedent; although there are words whose evolution shows that there were Latin Os that were transformed in the diphthong ue to move to Spanish. Examples: Cuerno (CORNU lat.) , though not its derivatives cornada, córnea, corneta; Cuero (CORIUM), but not its derivatives coraza, coriáceo; Cuerpo (CORPUS), but not corpóreo, corporación; among others.
There are many words written with two consecutive Os (cooperar, coordinar, loor, microondas, protozoo, zoo) and with an h in between them (alcohol, cohombro, cohorte, moho). There are also many words that have three Os (cogollo, fósforo, mocoso); fewer ones with four Os (Comodoro, horóscopo, oloroso); fewer still have five (fosforoscopio, odontólogo, todopoderoso); and there is only one word that is six: otorrinolaringólogo.
We hope you find the information helpful and that you use it in your everyday activities; In case you’d like a more technical or private class; remember to book your Free Spanish Class with a native Spanish-speaker. Cheers!
