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, 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).

• (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 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?”)

או • (u)

1. Judeo-Persian spelling of او (u).
   • 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.