O
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Template:AZO is the fifteenth letter of the Latin alphabet.
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History
The letter was derived from the Semitic 'Ajin (eye) which represented a consonant, probably the pharyngeal consonant (IPA ) similar to the Arabic letter ع called 'Ajn', but in Greek (Omicron), Etruscan and Latin it came to be used for the vowel .
Usage
O is most commonly associated with the [[close-mid back rounded vowel|]]. In English, though, O has a short value which maps to [[Open back rounded vowel|]] ([[Open back unrounded vowel|]] in parts of North America), while the long value tends to a diphthong of [[Close-mid back rounded vowel|]] and [[Near-close near-back rounded vowel|]]. Common digraphs include OO (inconsistently with the sound [[Near-close near-back rounded vowel|]] or [[Close back rounded vowel|]]), OI (usually a diphthong of [[Open-mid back rounded vowel|]] and [[Close front unrounded vowel|]]), as well as OA, OE, and OU with a variety of pronunciations depending on context.
Other languages use O for various values, usually back vowels which are at least partly open. Derived letters such as Ö and Ø have been created by some languages to distinguish values that were not present in Latin and Greek, particularly rounded front vowels.
Alternative representations
Oscar represents the letter O in the NATO phonetic alphabet. In the International phonetic alphabet, [o] represents the close-mid back rounded vowel.
Meanings for O
In medicine, O (also, O+ or O-) is one of the human blood types.
In chemistry, O stands for oxygen.
In Normandy, O is a well-known and picturesque château. See Château d'O.
O is also a symbol for a hug, as in love notes. (See Hugs and Kisses.)
O is also the nickname of a magazine founded by Oprah Winfrey, more formally called O, The Oprah Magazine.
O may refer to the 2002 album by Damien Rice, see O (album).
O is also a movie.
O is a family name in Japanese; see O (name).
Story of O is a French erotic novel.
In economics, O is usually used to represent output.
In Windows, Ctrl-O, and Mac OS, Command-O, opens a file.
"O" is the name of a production show by Cirque du Soleil at the Bellagio (hotel and casino) in Las Vegas.
Big O notation is, in mathematics and computer science, used to describe the asymptotic behavior of a function or algorithm.
See also
Template:AZsubnavaf:O bs:O ca:O cs:O da:O de:O el:O es:O eo:O fr:O gl:O ia:O it:O la:O nl:O ja:O ko:O nb:O nn:O pl:O pt:O ro:O simple:O sl:O fi:O sv:O vi:O yo:O zh:O sn:O