או

• Syriac: ܐܘ

• IPA^(key): /ʔaw/

או • (transliteration needed)

1. or, either

• IPA^(key): /ʔo/

או • (transliteration needed)

1. woe, alas, O

• “ˀw”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–
• Jastrow, Marcus (1903) A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature‎^[1], London, New York: Luzac & Co., G.P. Putnam's Sons
• Payne Smith, Jessie (1903) A Compendious Syriac Dictionary Founded Upon the Thesaurus Syriacus of R. Payne Smith, D.D., Oxford: Clarendon Press

From Proto-Semitic *ʔaw. Cognate with Arabic أَوْ (ʔaw) and Ugaritic 𐎜 (ʾō).

• (Biblical Hebrew) IPA^(key): /ʔoː/
• (Tiberian Hebrew) IPA^(key): /ˈʔoː/, [ˈʔoː]
• (Yemenite Hebrew) IPA^(key): /ˈʔø/, [ˈʔøː] (Sanaani), /ˈʔe/, [ˈʔeː] (Sharaabi)
• (Modern Israeli Hebrew) IPA^(key): /ʔo/

• Audio:

  (file)

אוֹ • ('o)

1. Or.

   הוא בא, או לא?

   hu ba, o lo?

   Is he coming, or not?

2. Either.

   או זה או זה אפשר.

   o ze o ze efshár.

   You can have either this one or this one.

• Hebrew אוֹ is used much as English or, and Hebrew אוֹ … אוֹ is used much as English either … or. The main difference is that אוֹ … אוֹ cannot by itself introduce two complete clauses; rather, in this case, each clause must be introduced by ש־ (“that”):

  או שאתה כן, או שאתה לא.

  o she'ata ken, o she'ata lo.

  Either you do, or you don't.

Inherited from Middle Persian [Book Pahlavi needed] (OLE), 𐭥𐭫𐭤 (ʿlh), 𐫀𐫇𐫏 (ʾwy /⁠ōy⁠/, “he; she; that”). Akin to Persian او (ō / u).

או (u)

1. she, he, they (meaning the third-person singular, of unknown or irrelevant gender, but animate)
   • 1600s, Elisha ben Shmūel, translated by Dalia Yasharpour, The Prince and the Sufi: The Judeo-Persian Rendition of the Buddha Biographies, Brill, published November 9, 2020:

     נכרדה או וֿפֿא בא אהל דווראן
     שכסתה צד הזאראן עהד ופיימאן

     na-karde u vafâ bâ ahl-e dowrân
     šekaste sad hezârân ahd o peymân

     She has never been faithful to people of the world,
     Breaking countless promises and pacts.

Inherited from Latin aut. Compare Portuguese ou and Spanish o. By coincidence, resembles the Hebrew synonym או.

או (ʔw)

1. or
   • c. 1100, Kharja H16, section 1:

     כי פראיו או כי שיראד דמיבי

     ky frʔyw ʔw ky šyrʔd dmyby

     What shall I do, what will become of me?

     (literally, “What shall I do or what will be of me?”)