on
/ɔn/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 6.91 in modern English
2
Scrabble Score
2
Letters
1
Syllables
2
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
In the state of being active, functioning or operating.
adj
Happening; taking place; being or due to be put into action.
adj
Possible; capable of being successfully carried out.
Example Sentences
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂en-der. Proto-Germanic *an Proto-West Germanic *ana Old English on Middle English on English on From Middle English on, from Old English on, an (“on, upon, onto, in, into”), from Proto-West Germanic *ana, from Proto-Germanic *ana (“on, at”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂en- (“on, onto”). Cognates Cognate with Yola a, an, ana, on (“on”), Saterland Frisian an (“on; at”), West Frisian oan (“on; to, towards”), Cimbrian aan, å (“on, onto”), Dutch aan (“on; at”), Low German an (“on; at, to”), German an (“at, in; on”), Luxembourgish un (“on; at, to”), Yiddish אָן (on, “on, onward”), Danish, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish å (“on”), Elfdalian ą̊ (“on”), Faroese and Icelandic á (“in; on”), Gothic 𐌰𐌽𐌰 (ana, “at, on”); also Umbrian 𐌀𐌌- (am-), 𐌀𐌍- (an-, “up, upon”), Ancient Greek ἀνά (aná, “on, upon”) (whence Greek ανά (aná, “by, through, per”)), Albanian në (“in; on”), Latvian no (“from; out of; for; of; with”), Lithuanian nuo (“from, off; for, of”), Belarusian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, and Ukrainian на (na, “on”), Czech, Polish, Slovak, and Slovene na (“on”), Serbo-Croatian на, na (“on”), Old Armenian ան- (an-, “at, on, unto”); and from Old Norse upp á: Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Swedish på (“on”), Norwegian Nynorsk paa, på (“on”), see upon.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɔn/
- British English: /ɒn/
Usage
- Informal
- British usage
- Obsolete
- Colloquial
- Transitive verb