different between oft vs ost

English

Etymology

From Middle English oft (also ofte, often > Modern English often), from Old English oft (“often”), from Proto-Germanic *uft? (“often”). Cognate with German oft (“oft, often”). More at often.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?ft/, enPR: ôft
• (cot–caught merger, Canada) IPA^(key): /?ft/, enPR: ?ft
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?ft/, enPR: ?ft
• Rhymes: -?ft

Adverb

oft (comparative ofter, superlative oftest)

1. (chiefly poetic, dialectal, and in combination) often; frequently; not rarely

   An oft-told tale

   • 1623, William Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well, Act II, Scene 1, 1765, Samuel Johnson, George Steevens (editors), The Plays of William Shakespeare, Volume 4, 1778, page 45,

     What I can do, can do no hurt to try: / Since you ?et up your re?t 'gain?t remedy: / He that of greate?t works is fini?her, / Oft does them by the weake?t mini?ter; / So holy writ in babes hath judgment ?hown, / When judges have been babes.

   • 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,

     And how is it that they, the sons of fame, / Whose inspiration seems to them to shine / From high, they whom the nations oftest name, / Must pass their days in penury or pain, / Or step to grandeur through the paths of shame, / And wear a deeper brand and gaudier chain?

   • 1902, James H. Mulligan, In Kentucky, quoted in 2005, Wade Hall (editor), The Kentucky Anthology, page 203,

     The moonlight falls the softest / In Kentucky; / The summer days come oftest / In Kentucky;

Usage notes

• In widespread contemporary use in combination.

Derived terms

• oft-repeated

Related terms

• many a time and oft
• often

Translations

Anagrams

• FOT, TOF

German

Etymology

From Middle High German ofte, oft, uft, from Old High German ofta, ofto, oftu, from Proto-Germanic *ufta, *uft? (“often”). Cognate with English oft and often.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ft/

Adverb

oft (comparative öfter, superlative am öftesten)

1. often

Usage notes

• The comparative is occasionally replaced with häufiger. The superlative, although correct and existent, is not in widespread usage everywhere and is generally replaced with häufigsten.

Synonyms

• dauernd, des Öfteren, fortgesetzt, gehäuft, häufig, immer wieder, laufend, mehrfach, mehrmalig, mehrmals, öfter, öfters, oftmalig, oftmals, regelmäßig, ständig, vielfach, vielmals, wiederholt, x-mal, zigmal
• (colloquial, figuratively): dutzendfach, dutzendmal, hundertmal, tausendmal, millionenmal

Further reading

• “oft” in Duden online

Hunsrik

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /oft/

Adverb

oft

1. often

Further reading

• Online Hunsrik Dictionary

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse oft (“often”) and opt (“oft, often”)

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?ft

Adverb

oft (comparative oftar, superlative oftast)

1. often

Derived terms

• oftar en ekki (more often than not)

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *ufta

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /oft/

Adverb

oft

1. often

Descendants

• English: oft, often

Old Norse

Alternative forms

• opt

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *ufta.

Adverb

oft

1. often

Descendants

Old Saxon

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *ufta

Adverb

oft

1. often

Descendants

Pennsylvania German

Etymology

Compare German oft, English often, Swedish ofta.

Adverb

oft

1. often, frequently

Synonyms

• efders
• oftmols

English

Noun

ost (plural osts)

1. Alternative form of oast

Anagrams

• OTS, OTs, TOS, TOs, TSO, Tso, sot

Danish

Etymology 1

From Old Danish oost, Old Norse ostr, from Proto-Germanic *j?staz, *justaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [??sd?]

Noun

ost c (singular definite osten, plural indefinite oste)

1. cheese

Inflection

Derived terms

Etymology 2

From Middle Low German ?st (“east”), from Proto-Germanic *austr?. Cognate of Danish øster, Danish øst.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?o?sd?]

Adverb

ost

1. (obsolete) east

Noun

ost

1. (obsolete) east

Synonyms

• øst

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the main entry.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?o?sd?]

Verb

ost

1. past participle of ose

Estonian

Noun

ost (genitive ostu, partitive ostu)

1. purchase

Declension

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Faroese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?st/
• Rhymes: -?st
• Homophone: ást

Noun

ost

1. accusative singular of ostur

French

Etymology

From Middle French ost, from Old French ost, host, from Latin hostis. An archaic or literary term referring to an army from the Middle Ages, taken from Middle French (i.e. no longer reflecting a popularly inherited form). The modern pronunciation is based on the spelling, differing from the original one, which was /o/. Has survived as an inherited form in the dialects of the Picardy and Maine regions as o (“herd”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?st/

Noun

ost m (plural osts)

1. (archaic, literary) host, army

Related terms

• hostile

Icelandic

Noun

ost

1. indefinite accusative singular of ostur

Latvian

Etymology

From *uosti, from Proto-Baltic *uod-ti, from *?d-, from Proto-Indo-European *od-, *h?ed-, *h?ed- (“to smell”). Cognates include Lithuanian úosti, Old Czech jadati (“to explore, to investigate”), Ancient Greek ??? (óz?, “to smell”), Latin od?r (“smell”), Albanian amë (“unpleasant smell”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [uôst]

Verb

ost (tr. or intr., 1st conj., pres. ožu, od, ož, past odu)

1. to smell (to perceive an odor)

2. to smell, to sniff (to inhale air through the nose, usually several times, in order to try to perceive a smell)

3. (figuratively, colloquial) to smell (to sense, to find out)

4. to smell, to stink (to have, to spread a bad, unpleasant smell)

5. to smell (to have, to spread a pleasant odor)

6. (figuratively, colloquial) to smell (to suggest, make think of something, usually unpleasant)

Conjugation

Synonyms

• (of "to sniff"): ost?t
• (of "to sense"): jaust
• (of "to stink"): smird?t, smakot
• (of "to spread pleasant odor"): smaržot

Derived terms

prefixed verbs:

other derived terms:

• osties

Related terms

• ost?t
• oža

References

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French ost, from Latin hostis.

Noun

ost m or f (plural osts)

1. army

Descendants

• French: ost

References

• ost on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse ostr.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ust/

Noun

ost m (definite singular osten, indefinite plural oster, definite plural ostene)

1. cheese

Derived terms

• ostekake
• ostesaus
• parmesanost
• sveitserost

References

• “ost” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse ostr.

Noun

ost m (definite singular osten, indefinite plural ostar, definite plural ostane)

1. cheese

Derived terms

• ostekake
• ostesaus
• parmesanost
• sveitserost

References

• “ost” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *?staz. Cognate with Middle Low German ?st, Dutch oest (“knot, tree-stump”). Related with Proto-Germanic *astaz (“branch”), whence Old High German ast (German Ast), Gothic ???????????????? (asts).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /o?st/

Noun

?st m

1. knot in a tree

Declension

Old French

Alternative forms

• host

Etymology

From Latin hostis, hostem.

Noun

ost m or f

1. army (armed military force)

Usage notes

• Has a regular declension as both a masculine and a feminine noun

  nominative singular oz, oblique plural oz, nominative plural ost when masculine

  nominative singular ost, oblique plural oz, nominative plural oz when feminine

• see Appendix:Old French nouns

Descendants

• Middle French: ost
  • French: ost (archaic)

Papiamentu

Etymology

From Dutch oost.

Adjective

ost

1. east

Romansch

Etymology

From a Germanic language.

Noun

ost m (plural osts)

1. east

Synonyms

• (Sutsilvan) oriaint

Antonyms

• vest

Derived terms

• nordost
• sidost

Related terms

• nord
• sid
• nordvest
• sidvest

Slovene

Etymology

Back-formation from oster.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ó?st/

Noun

??st f

1. sharp tip

Inflection

Swedish

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Old Swedish oster, from Old Norse ostr, from Proto-Germanic *justaz, from Proto-Indo-European *yaus-, *y?s-.

Noun

ost c

1. cheese

Declension

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Alternative forms

• öster
• öst

Adverb

ost (not comparable)

1. east

Noun

ost c (uncountable)

1. east

Related terms

• nordost
• nordväst
• norr
• öst
• öster
• ostlig
• söder
• syd
• sydost
• sydväst
• väst
• väster

See also

• (compass points) vädersträck;

References

• ost in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)

Anagrams

• ots, sot, sto

Tocharian B

Etymology

From Proto-Tocharian *w?stä, maybe from Proto-Indo-European *weh?s-tu-; compare Ancient Greek ???? (ástu, “town”) and Sanskrit ?????? (v?stu). Compare Tocharian A wa?t.

Noun

ost m (gen. s. ostantse, obl. s. ost, nom. pl. ostwa)

1. house

Usage notes

Often found in the phrases ostme? lät- (lit. “leave home”), meaning “to become a (Buddhist) monk”, and ostme? ltu, “Buddhist monk”. This term reflects the Sanskrit equivalent ?????????? (pravrajya?, “go forth”). Note that a similar expression, probably a calque, is also found in Chinese ?? (“renounce the family to become a Buddhist monk or nun”).

Vilamovian

Pronunciation

Noun

ost m

1. bough, branch