OKFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaFor other uses, seeOK (disambiguation)."Okay" redirects here. For other uses, seeOkay (disambiguation)."Okee" redirects here. For the community, seeOkee, Wisconsin.This articleneeds additional citations forverification.Please helpimprove this articlebyadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(December 2014)

OK button on a remote control"OK" (also spelled "okay", "ok", or "O.K.") is a word denoting approval, acceptance, agreement, assent, or acknowledgment. "OK", as anadjective, can also express acknowledgment without approval.[1]"OK" has frequently turned up as aloanwordin many other languages.As anadjective, "OK" means "adequate", "acceptable" ("this is OK to send out"), "mediocre" often in contrast to "good" ("the food was OK"); it also functions as anadverbin this sense. As aninterjection, it can denote compliance ("OK, I will do that"), or agreement ("OK, that is fine"). As averbandnounit means "assent" ("the boss OKed the purchase" and "the boss gave his OK to the purchase"). As a versatile discourse marker (orback-channelingitem), it can also be used with appropriatevoice toneto show doubt or to seek confirmation ("OK?" or "Is that OK?").[2]Contents[hide] 1Proposed etymologies 1.1Boston abbreviation fad 1.2Choctaw 1.3West African 1.4Alternative etymologies 2Early history 3Spelling variations 4Usage 4.1International usage 5Gesture 6Computers 7Notes 8References 9Further reading 10External linksProposed etymologies[edit]See also:List of proposed etymologies of OKNumerous explanations for the origin of the expression have been suggested, but few have been discussed seriously by linguists. The following proposals have found mainstream recognition.Boston abbreviation fad[edit]The etymology that most reference works provide today is based on a survey of the word'searly historyin print: a series of six articles byAllen Walker Read,[3]in the journalAmerican Speechin 1963 and 1964.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10]He tracked the spread and evolution of the word in American newspapers and other written documents, and later throughout the rest of the world. He also documented controversy surroundingOKand the history of itsfolk etymologies, both of which are intertwined with the history of the word itself. Read's work has nevertheless been called in for closer scrutiny by scholars of both Choctaw and West African languages.[11]Read argues that, at the time of the expression's first appearance in print, a broaderfadexisted in the United States of "comical misspellings" and of forming and employing acronyms, themselves based on colloquial speech patterns:The abbreviation fad began in Boston in the summer of 1838 OFM, "our first men," and used expressions like NG, "no go," GT, "gone to Texas," and SP, "small potatoes." Many of the abbreviated expressions were exaggerated misspellings, a stock in trade of the humorists of the day. One predecessor of OK was OW, "oll wright."[12]The general fad is speculated to have existed in spoken or informal written U.S. English for a decade or more before its appearance in newspapers.OK's original presentation as "all correct" was later varied with spellings such as "Oll Korrect" or even "Ole Kurreck".The term appears to have achieved national prominence in 1840, when supporters of the American Democratic political party claimed during the1840 United States presidential electionthat it stood for "Old Kinderhook," a nickname for a Democratic presidential candidate,Martin Van Buren, a native ofKinderhook, New York, who was Andrew Jackson's protg. "'Vote for OK' was snappier than using his Dutch name."[13]In response,Whigopponents attributedOK, in the sense of "Oll Korrect," toAndrew Jackson's bad spelling. The country-wide publicity surrounding the election appears to have been a critical event inOK's history, widely and suddenly popularizing it across the United States.Read had originally proposed an etymology of "OK" in "Old Kinderhook" in 1941.[14]The evidence presented in that article was somewhat sparse, and the connection to "Oll Korrect" not properly elucidated. Various challenges to the etymology were presented, e.g., Heflin's 1962 article.[15]However, Read's landmark 19631964 papers silenced most of the skepticism. Read's etymology gained immediate acceptance, and is now offered without reservation in most dictionaries.[16]Read himself was nevertheless open to evaluating alternate explanations:Some believe that the Boston newspaper's reference to OK may not be the earliest. Some are attracted to the claim that it is of American-Indian origin. There is an Indian word, okeh, used as an affirmative reply to a question. Mr Read treated such doubting calmly. Nothing is absolute, he once wrote, nothing is forever.[17]Choctaw[edit]