أو

See also: او‎ and آو‎

Arabic

Etymology

From Proto-Semitic *ʔaw. Cognate with Hebrew אוֹ‎ (’o), Ugaritic 𐎜 (ủ /ʾō/).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ʔaw/
  • Audio(file)

Conjunction

أَوْ • (ʔaw)

  1. indicates an inclusive disjunction
    ‏كُلِ التَّمْرَ الْهِنْدِيَّ أَوِ اشْرَبِ الْبُرْتُقَالَ.‎‎
    Eat the tamarind! Or drink the orange-juice!
  2. (only in declaratives) indicates an exclusive disjunction
    ‏كُلُّ شَيْءٍ إِمَّا مَوْجُودٌ أَوْ غَيْرُ مَوْجُودٍ.‎‎
    kullu šayʔin ʔimmā mawjūdun ʔaw ḡayru mawjūdin.
    Every object is either existent or inexistent.

Descendants
  • → Swahili: au

References
  • Wehr, Hans (1979), “أو”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN

South Levantine Arabic

Etymology

From Arabic أَوْ‎ (ʔaw).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ʔaw/, [ʔaw]
  • Audio (Ramallah)(file)

Conjunction

أو • (ʔaw)

  1. or
  2. or (mutually exclusive, when used together with إما‎ (ʔimma))
    ‏إما بتدفع كاش أو بالكرت.‎‎
    ʔimma btidfaʕ kāš ʔaw bil-kart
    Either you pay cash or by card.
    Synonyms: ولا‎ (willa), يا ... يا‎ (ya ... ya)
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