"oft" meaning in English

See oft in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adverb

IPA: /ɔft/ [General-American], /ɑft/ [cot-caught-merger], /ɒft/ [Received-Pronunciation] Audio: en-us-oft.ogg Forms: ofter [comparative], oftest [superlative]
enPR: ôft [General-American], ŏft [cot-caught-merger], ŏft [Received-Pronunciation] Rhymes: -ɒft Etymology: From Middle English oft (also ofte, often > Modern English often), from Old English oft (“often”), from Proto-West Germanic *oftu, *oftō, from Proto-Germanic *uftō (“often”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian oafte (“oft, often”), West Frisian oft, ofte (“oft, often”), Dutch oft (“oft, often”), German oft (“oft, often”). More at often. Etymology templates: {{inh|en|enm|oft}} Middle English oft, {{cog|en|often}} English often, {{inh|en|ang|oft|t=often}} Old English oft (“often”), {{inh|en|gmw-pro|*oftu}} Proto-West Germanic *oftu, {{inh|en|gem-pro|*uftō|t=often}} Proto-Germanic *uftō (“often”), {{cog|stq|oafte|t=oft, often}} Saterland Frisian oafte (“oft, often”), {{cog|fy|oft}} West Frisian oft, {{cog|nl|oft|t=oft, often}} Dutch oft (“oft, often”), {{cog|de|oft|t=oft, often}} German oft (“oft, often”) Head templates: {{en-adv|er}} oft (comparative ofter, superlative oftest)
  1. (chiefly poetic, dialectal, and in combination) often; frequently; not rarely Tags: dialectal, in-compounds, poetic Categories (topical): Time Derived forms: many a time and oft, oft-mentioned, oft-repeated, oft-used Related terms: often Translations (often; frequently; not rarely; many times): често (često) (Bulgarian), často (Czech), souvent (French), ხშირად (xširad) (Georgian), часто (často) (Russian), אַ סך מאָל (a sakh mol) (Yiddish)
    Sense id: en-oft-en-adv-RqBgKwRh Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 11 entries, Pages with entries, Terms with Bulgarian translations, Terms with Czech translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with Georgian translations, Terms with Russian translations, Terms with Yiddish translations, Yiddish terms with non-redundant manual transliterations, Yiddish terms with redundant script codes

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "oft"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English oft",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "often"
      },
      "expansion": "English often",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "oft",
        "t": "often"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English oft (“often”)",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gmw-pro",
        "3": "*oftu"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-West Germanic *oftu",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gem-pro",
        "3": "*uftō",
        "t": "often"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Germanic *uftō (“often”)",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "stq",
        "2": "oafte",
        "t": "oft, often"
      },
      "expansion": "Saterland Frisian oafte (“oft, often”)",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fy",
        "2": "oft"
      },
      "expansion": "West Frisian oft",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "nl",
        "2": "oft",
        "t": "oft, often"
      },
      "expansion": "Dutch oft (“oft, often”)",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "de",
        "2": "oft",
        "t": "oft, often"
      },
      "expansion": "German oft (“oft, often”)",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English oft (also ofte, often > Modern English often), from Old English oft (“often”), from Proto-West Germanic *oftu, *oftō, from Proto-Germanic *uftō (“often”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian oafte (“oft, often”), West Frisian oft, ofte (“oft, often”), Dutch oft (“oft, often”), German oft (“oft, often”). More at often.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "ofter",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "oftest",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "er"
      },
      "expansion": "oft (comparative ofter, superlative oftest)",
      "name": "en-adv"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adv",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 11 entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Bulgarian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Czech translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Georgian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Russian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Yiddish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Yiddish terms with non-redundant manual transliterations",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant manual transliterations",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Yiddish terms with redundant script codes",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with redundant script codes",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Time",
          "orig": "en:Time",
          "parents": [
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "many a time and oft"
        },
        {
          "word": "oft-mentioned"
        },
        {
          "word": "oft-repeated"
        },
        {
          "word": "oft-used"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "An oft-told tale",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:",
          "text": "What I can do, can do no hurt to try:\nSince you ſet up your reſt 'gainſt remedy:\nHe that of greateſt works is finiſher,\nOft does them by the weakeſt miniſter;\nSo holy writ in babes hath judgment ſhown,\nWhen judges have been babes.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "text": "1819, George Gordon Byron, John Galt (biography), The Pophecy of Dante, Canto the Fourth, 1857, The Complete Works of Lord Byron, Volume 1, page 403,\nAnd how is it that they, the sons of fame,\nWhose inspiration seems to them to shine\nFrom high, they whom the nations oftest name,\nMust pass their days in penury or pain,\nOr step to grandeur through the paths of shame,\nAnd wear a deeper brand and gaudier chain?"
        },
        {
          "text": "1902, James H. Mulligan, In Kentucky, quoted in 2005, Wade Hall (editor), The Kentucky Anthology, page 203,\nThe moonlight falls the softest\nIn Kentucky;\nThe summer days come oftest\nIn Kentucky;"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "often; frequently; not rarely"
      ],
      "id": "en-oft-en-adv-RqBgKwRh",
      "links": [
        [
          "often",
          "often"
        ],
        [
          "frequently",
          "frequently"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(chiefly poetic, dialectal, and in combination) often; frequently; not rarely"
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "often"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "dialectal",
        "in-compounds",
        "poetic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "bg",
          "lang": "Bulgarian",
          "roman": "često",
          "sense": "often; frequently; not rarely; many times",
          "word": "често"
        },
        {
          "code": "cs",
          "lang": "Czech",
          "sense": "often; frequently; not rarely; many times",
          "word": "často"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "often; frequently; not rarely; many times",
          "word": "souvent"
        },
        {
          "code": "ka",
          "lang": "Georgian",
          "roman": "xširad",
          "sense": "often; frequently; not rarely; many times",
          "word": "ხშირად"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "často",
          "sense": "often; frequently; not rarely; many times",
          "word": "часто"
        },
        {
          "code": "yi",
          "lang": "Yiddish",
          "roman": "a sakh mol",
          "sense": "often; frequently; not rarely; many times",
          "word": "אַ סך מאָל"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ɔft/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "enpr": "ôft",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ɑft/",
      "tags": [
        "cot-caught-merger"
      ]
    },
    {
      "enpr": "ŏft",
      "tags": [
        "cot-caught-merger"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ɒft/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "enpr": "ŏft",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɒft"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-oft.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/e4/En-us-oft.ogg/En-us-oft.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/En-us-oft.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "oft"
}

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "many a time and oft"
    },
    {
      "word": "oft-mentioned"
    },
    {
      "word": "oft-repeated"
    },
    {
      "word": "oft-used"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "oft"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English oft",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "often"
      },
      "expansion": "English often",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "oft",
        "t": "often"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English oft (“often”)",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gmw-pro",
        "3": "*oftu"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-West Germanic *oftu",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gem-pro",
        "3": "*uftō",
        "t": "often"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Germanic *uftō (“often”)",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "stq",
        "2": "oafte",
        "t": "oft, often"
      },
      "expansion": "Saterland Frisian oafte (“oft, often”)",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fy",
        "2": "oft"
      },
      "expansion": "West Frisian oft",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "nl",
        "2": "oft",
        "t": "oft, often"
      },
      "expansion": "Dutch oft (“oft, often”)",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "de",
        "2": "oft",
        "t": "oft, often"
      },
      "expansion": "German oft (“oft, often”)",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English oft (also ofte, often > Modern English often), from Old English oft (“often”), from Proto-West Germanic *oftu, *oftō, from Proto-Germanic *uftō (“often”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian oafte (“oft, often”), West Frisian oft, ofte (“oft, often”), Dutch oft (“oft, often”), German oft (“oft, often”). More at often.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "ofter",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "oftest",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "er"
      },
      "expansion": "oft (comparative ofter, superlative oftest)",
      "name": "en-adv"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adv",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "often"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English adverbs",
        "English dialectal terms",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English poetic terms",
        "English terms derived from Middle English",
        "English terms derived from Old English",
        "English terms derived from Proto-Germanic",
        "English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic",
        "English terms inherited from Middle English",
        "English terms inherited from Old English",
        "English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic",
        "English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 11 entries",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Rhymes:English/ɒft",
        "Rhymes:English/ɒft/1 syllable",
        "Terms with Bulgarian translations",
        "Terms with Czech translations",
        "Terms with French translations",
        "Terms with Georgian translations",
        "Terms with Russian translations",
        "Terms with Yiddish translations",
        "Yiddish terms with non-redundant manual transliterations",
        "Yiddish terms with redundant script codes",
        "en:Time"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "An oft-told tale",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:",
          "text": "What I can do, can do no hurt to try:\nSince you ſet up your reſt 'gainſt remedy:\nHe that of greateſt works is finiſher,\nOft does them by the weakeſt miniſter;\nSo holy writ in babes hath judgment ſhown,\nWhen judges have been babes.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "text": "1819, George Gordon Byron, John Galt (biography), The Pophecy of Dante, Canto the Fourth, 1857, The Complete Works of Lord Byron, Volume 1, page 403,\nAnd how is it that they, the sons of fame,\nWhose inspiration seems to them to shine\nFrom high, they whom the nations oftest name,\nMust pass their days in penury or pain,\nOr step to grandeur through the paths of shame,\nAnd wear a deeper brand and gaudier chain?"
        },
        {
          "text": "1902, James H. Mulligan, In Kentucky, quoted in 2005, Wade Hall (editor), The Kentucky Anthology, page 203,\nThe moonlight falls the softest\nIn Kentucky;\nThe summer days come oftest\nIn Kentucky;"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "often; frequently; not rarely"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "often",
          "often"
        ],
        [
          "frequently",
          "frequently"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(chiefly poetic, dialectal, and in combination) often; frequently; not rarely"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "dialectal",
        "in-compounds",
        "poetic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ɔft/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "enpr": "ôft",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ɑft/",
      "tags": [
        "cot-caught-merger"
      ]
    },
    {
      "enpr": "ŏft",
      "tags": [
        "cot-caught-merger"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ɒft/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "enpr": "ŏft",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɒft"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-oft.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/e4/En-us-oft.ogg/En-us-oft.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/En-us-oft.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "bg",
      "lang": "Bulgarian",
      "roman": "često",
      "sense": "often; frequently; not rarely; many times",
      "word": "често"
    },
    {
      "code": "cs",
      "lang": "Czech",
      "sense": "often; frequently; not rarely; many times",
      "word": "často"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "often; frequently; not rarely; many times",
      "word": "souvent"
    },
    {
      "code": "ka",
      "lang": "Georgian",
      "roman": "xširad",
      "sense": "often; frequently; not rarely; many times",
      "word": "ხშირად"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "často",
      "sense": "often; frequently; not rarely; many times",
      "word": "часто"
    },
    {
      "code": "yi",
      "lang": "Yiddish",
      "roman": "a sakh mol",
      "sense": "often; frequently; not rarely; many times",
      "word": "אַ סך מאָל"
    }
  ],
  "word": "oft"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-20 using wiktextract (c15a5ce and 5c11237). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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