Off

Part of speech: adverb, preposition

Pronunciation: /ɒf/

Definitions

1. Away from a place, position, or state; not on, attached, or in operation
2. Distant from a specific point, detachment from involvement, or deactivation of a mechanism
3. Not present or active, removed from contact or connection; distant in time from a reference point; indicating cancellation or termination of an event or state

Etymology: "Off" is one of the rare English words that is still the same word as its own ancestor, just split in two. Old English had "of" and "af" (or "æf"), both meaning "from, off, away," and they were really the same word in different forms. Over time "of" settled into the sense of "belonging to" or "from among," while "off" took on the sense of separation and departure, so today the two are called doublets: one word that entered the language twice in different shapes. The deeper root is a simple idea of movement away. "Off" goes back through Proto-West Germanic "ab and Proto-Germanic "ab, meaning "from," to a very old Indo-European base that also gave Latin "ab" ("of, from, by") and Ancient Greek "apó" ("from"). English "off" and Latin "ab" are therefore distant relatives, and the same ancient sense of "away from" runs through the German "ab," the Dutch "af," and the Scots "aff."

Synonyms: away, from, aside

Antonyms: on, attached