• fifteen letter of the Latin alphabet, fourth vowel
  • phonetic name: "close-mid back rounded vowel" or "open-mid back rounded vowel"; sound: make a small circle with your lips and vocalize (n.b. this is the only example where the mouth naturally adopts the letter's circular shape in order to pronounce it)
  • Egyptian hieroglyphs were a quail, a noose and an eye
  • proto-Semitic symbol was a human eye, which was also adopted by the Phoenicians (ayin meaning "eye")
  • Greeks adopted it and split 'O' into 2 new letters: short-sounding omicron (uppercase Ο, lowercase ο) and long-sounding omega (uppercase Ω, lower case ω). Omega was placed at the end of the Greek alphabet (n.b.: In the New Testament book of Revelation, God is declared to be the "alpha and omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last")
  • Omega thrives in modern branding as a suggestion of ultimate craftsmanship or "the last word" (ie. Swiss watches, camping gear, nutritional supplements and paintbrushes).
  • Omega also has a variety of other applications (Read more here)
  • in Roman, 'O' represented 11
  • 'O' has a wide range of pronunciations (i.e. no, got, glory, north, do, son, word) including those in conjunction with other letters (i.e. boy, now, good, fool, favour, cough)
  • 'O' is often interchangeable with the number zero '0' (n.b.: zero represented with a slash through a slightly elongated circle '0' originated around the thirteenth century).
  • Even though it has no actual value, zero as a placeholder is key to modern science, technology and mathematics. (Read more here)
  • in death records, 'O' with a dash or cross is the abbreviation for the Latin obitus (death). Also, Greek word for death (thanatos) starts with Greek letter theta (θ), a slashed 'O'
  • 'O' is found in many LOUD expressions (ie. "Oh!" "Ow!" "Oy!" "Oooh!)
  • in type design, uppercase 'O' is considered a "control character" because it establishes the width and curvature of other letterforms in the alphabet
  • for the most part, 'O' has generally always been circular, but has also been represented as a diamond, a rectangle, and almond-shaped - the circle always prevailed
  • associated with roundness, softness, femininity
  • 'O's shape recalls a female breast, the womb, the vagina, and an egg (n.b.: "oval" comes from Latin word ovum meaning "egg")
  • 'O' is associated with the colour blue
  • graphically, 'O' is based on purity, unity; the circle is a symbol of heaven, and also represents time, cycles, and families
  • in Taoism, the circle represents the "Great Ultimate", combining emptiness with fullness, harmonizing the visible with the invisible
  • closed 'O' sung in the key of 'E', acts on the solar plexus, the position of the heart chakra
  • Italian painter Giotto is said to have demonstrated his artistic precision by drawing a perfect circle freehand in front of Pope Benedict IX
  • 'O' in music indicates a 3-count measure, considered a perfect measure
  • 'O' in superscript (°) is used to indicate temperature degrees (°C, °F), longitude/latitude (37°N / 61°W), and the word folio (f°)
  • 'O' is the chemical symbol for oxygen (#8 on the periodic table), a colourless, odourless, and tasteless gas is vital to human breathing and the carbon-nitrogen cycle. About two thirds of the human body, and nine tenths of water, is oxygen.
  • Blood type O is a recessive blood type, and will not be expressed if pair with A or B; according to Dr. Peter J. D'Adamo, people with blood type O are "strong, self-reliant people and natural leaders." They have the oldest and most basic blood type with a strong immune system (originating as hunter-gatherers), can enjoy and metabolize almost anything, but should avoid restrict grains, breads, and legumes. If you're type O, it's recommended you enjoy vigorous exercise. People with Blood type O are universal donors.
  • 'o' can abbreviate "of" for time indicators (ie. ten o'clock) or as a descendant marker (ie. William O'Leary)
  • NATO phonetic alphabet: OSCAR
  • in the abbreviate "IOU", 'O' stands for "owe"
  • 'O' is also associated with Oprah Winfrey and her magazine, "O Magazine"
  • Shakespeare loved using the letter 'O': as marks of smallpox, stars, an affliction, the Earth, et al.
  • 'O' can also mean hugs, as in "xoxoxo" (in tandem with kisses!)
  • phonetic sound, "oh", has a multitude of meanings: an expression of pain, surprise, annoyance, longing, gladness, wishfulness, wonder, fear, earnestness, reassurance, et al.
  • "'O' is the sun." -Victor Hugo, French poet & playwright
  • "'O', supreme trumpet, full of strange harsh sounds, silences which are crossed by worlds and by angels - O, Omega, violet ray of her eyes!" - Arthur Rimbaud, Vowels
  • "The sound vibration of the vowel 'O' means 'innocence, childlike innocence, circle of light, hollow bone, hollow reed, medicine wheel." - Joseph E. Rael
  • "'O' is a letter of great uncertainty of the tongue; it soundeth as much upon the 'u', which is his cousin, as upon the 'o', which is his natural." - Richard Mulcaster, The First Part of the Elementaire, 1582
  • "'O' invokes enclosure, death, order, orderliness, loftiness and inevitability." -Dictionnaire des symboles (Bouquins edition)
  • O can also abbreviate ocean, octavo, old, only, order, pint
Oh O, how empty yet how full
You are; how life the moon you pull.
You're just inside the door of home,
You calm us down when we say ohm,
You couldn't be more in the middle of now.
If it weren't for you, we couldn't go "Wow!"
You're shaped like a mouth making your sound,
You're a ring, an orgasm, the essence of round,
The egg in mom, the bubble in pop.
Hip is static without your hop.
Origin: omega, okay to no,
Yo ho ho, good old O.
-Roy Blount Jr.
*Point of interest: Futura's famous geometric 'O' (pictured above) is not perfectly round. Adjustments have been made to the stroke weight to add vertical emphasis to the sides.