Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Jo

Jo

,
Noun.
;
pl.
Joes
(#)
.
[Etymol. uncertain.]
A sweetheart; a darling.
[Scot.]
Burns.

Definition 2024


Jo

Jo

See also: Appendix:Variations of "jo"

English

Proper noun

Jo

  1. A diminutive of the female given names Josephine, Joan, Joanna, Joanne, or Jolene. Often used in conjoined names such as Jo Ann or Mary Jo.
    • 1888 Marietta Holley: Josiah Allen's Wife as a P.A. and P.I.: Samantha at the Centennial: page 577:
      "Its name is Samantha Jo, after Josiah and me. You know they call girls Jo and Josie a sight lately; its name is agreeable to Josiah and me, very.
  2. A rare spelling variant of Joe, diminutive of the male given name Joseph.
    • 1853 Charles Dickens, Bleak House, Chapter XI:
      Name, Jo. Nothing else that he knows on. Don't know that everybody has two names. Never heerd of sich a think. Don't know that Jo is short for a longer name. Thinks it long enough for him. He don't find no fault with it. Spell it? No. He can't spell it.

See also

Anagrams


Dutch

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -oː

Proper noun

Jo f

  1. A female given name, a pet name diminutive of Johanna or Josefien.

German

Proper noun

Jo m

  1. (biblical, rare) Abbreviation of Johannes (Gospel of John): Joh.

Luxembourgish

Etymology

From jo (yes).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /joː/
    • Rhymes: -oː

Noun

Jo m (uncountable)

  1. a yes

Antonyms

  • Neen

Norwegian

Proper noun

Jo

  1. A male given name, short form of Jon (= John).
  2. (rare) A female given name, from Old Norse jór, horse.
  3. (rare) A female given name, short for Josefine, Johanne etc.

jo

jo

See also: Appendix:Variations of "jo"

English

Noun

jo (plural jos)

  1. (Scotland) Darling, sweetheart.
    • 1711, traditional, published by James Watson, Old Long Syne:
      On Old long syne my Jo,
      on Old long syne,
      That thou canst never once reflect,
      on Old long syne.

Anagrams


Albanian

Etymology

From Proto-Albanian *nio (not, no), from Proto-Indo-European *nĕ, *nē (negative particle). Compare Latin ne, Welsh neu, Old English na, Lithuanian ne (not).

Pronunciation

Determiner

jo

  1. no, not
Related terms

Basque

Verb

jo

  1. to hit, strike, punch
  2. (music) to play
    Gitarra jo nahi dut. - I want to play the guitar.
  3. to knock, rap
    Gizon itsusi batek etxeko atea jo du. - An ugly man knocked on the door.
  4. to crash
  5. to head, go
  6. (wind) to blow

Conjugation

Synonyms


Bavarian

Adverb

jo

  1. yes

Catalan

Pronunciation

  • (Central) IPA(key): /ˈʒɔ/
  • (Valencian) IPA(key): /ˈjo/, /ˈjɔ/
  • Rhymes: -o,

Etymology

From Old Provençal eu, from Vulgar Latin *eo, attested from the 6th century in Romance, from Latin ego, from Proto-Italic *egō, from Proto-Indo-European *éǵh₂; akin to Greek εγώ (egó), Sanskrit aham, all from Proto-Indo-European *éǵh₂.

Pronoun

jo (strong)

  1. I
  2. (after certain prepositions) me

Synonyms

  • mi (after most prepositions)

Declension


Czech

Pronunciation

Particle

jo

  1. (colloquial) yeah, yep

Synonyms

Antonyms


Dalmatian

Etymology

From Latin ubi. Compare Romanian iuo, Italian ove, French , Old Spanish o.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /jo/

Adverb

jo

  1. where

Danish

Pronunciation

Adverb

jo

  1. as you know or should know; sometimes translatable as after all or obviously
    • 2015, Henriette E. Møller, Jelne, Gyldendal A/S (ISBN 9788702102864)
      Jeg ved ikke, hvad de talte om, hendes sind blev så mørkt, jeg kunne jo ikke rigtigt snakke med hende.
      I do not know of what they spoke, her mind became so dark, I could not really talk with her, as you should be able to see.
    • 2009, Sven Arvid Birkeland, I krigens kølvand: danske skæbner efter 2. verdenskrig, Gyldendal A/S (ISBN 9788702078770), page 479
      Han gik jo ikke i krig i håb om, at det skulle blive den store sejr
      After all, he did not go to war in the hopes of achieving great victory.
    • 2016, Anita Krumbach, Dorte Lilmose, Hanne Kvist, Helle Perrier, Iben Mondrup, Louis Jensen, Ronnie Andersen, Sissel Bergfjord, Svend Åge Madsen, Tomas Lagermand Lundme, Det du ikke ved: Noveller for unge, Gyldendal A/S (ISBN 9788702173956)
      Jeg mener, at selv ens eget navn eller alder KAN man jo ikke være 100 procent sikker på er Dennis/17, vel?
      I mean, one obviously cannot even be 100% sure that one's own name or age are Dennis and 17, can one?

Conjunction

jo

  1. the
    Jo mere jeg løber, desto trættere bliver jeg.
    The more I run, the more tired I become.
Usage notes

jo ... desto ..., jo ... des ... are common constructions.

Pronunciation

Interjection

jo

  1. used to negate a question phrased negatively; contrast with ja

Usage notes

Questions like Kommer du ikke?, Du kommer ikke, vel?, Du kommer ikke. ("Are you not coming?", "You are not coming, are you?", "You are not coming.") might be answered with jo to indicate that the speaker is, in fact, coming.

References


Dutch

Etymology

From English yo.

Interjection

jo

  1. hi
    Ey! - Jo! - Hey! - Hi!
  2. bye
    Later! - Jo! - Later! - Bye!
  3. you too
    Fijn weekend! - Jo! - Have a nice weekend! - You too!

Esperanto

Noun

jo (accusative singular jo-on, plural jo-oj, accusative plural jo-ojn)

  1. The name of the Latin-script letter J/j.

See also


Finnish

Etymology

Cognate with Estonian juba. According to EES ultimately a borrowing from Proto-Germanic *ju, compare Gothic 𐌾𐌿 (ju, already), Old High German ju (already).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈjo/
  • Rhymes: -o
  • Hyphenation: jo

Adverb

jo

  1. already
    Luin kirjan jo loppuun.
    I already finished the book.
  2. now (emphasizing word)
    (impatiently) Tule jo!
    Come now!

See also


Friulian

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *eo, attested from the 6th century in Romance, from Latin ego.; akin to Greek εγώ (egó), Sanskrit aham, all from Proto-Indo-European *éǵh₂.

Pronoun

jo

  1. I

See also


German

Alternative forms

  • joa

Etymology

Alteration of ja (yes) or the respective dialectal cognates.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /jɔː/, /jɔːr/

Interjection

jo

  1. (colloquial) yes, yeah, well; expresses agreement in a hesitant or ponderous manner.

Etymology 2

From the respective dialectal words for yes in about half of Northern and Central Germany and all of Western Germany. Possibly from Proto-Germanic *ja (yes, thus, so), possibly from an unrecorded root. The form with /oː/ must have existed in the middle ages already, since the word often partakes in the same sound shifts as words with /oː/ from other sources, cf. Swedish jo.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /joː/

Interjection

jo

  1. (colloquial) yes; expresses firm agreement.

Italian

Pronoun

jo

  1. Obsolete form of io.

Japanese

Romanization

jo

  1. rōmaji reading of じょ
  2. rōmaji reading of ジョ
  3. rōmaji reading of ぢょ
  4. rōmaji reading of ヂョ

Kashubian

Interjection

jo

  1. yes

Latvian

Conjunction

jo

  1. because
  2. for

Particle

jo

  1. the... the...
    jo vairāk naudas, jo labākthe more money the better

Lithuanian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [jo]

Determiner

jo

  1. his (3rd person singular masculine possessive)

Pronoun

jo m

  1. (third-person singular) genitive form of jis.

Particle

jo

  1. (colloquial) yes

Livonian

Alternative forms

Etymology 1

Perhaps a borrowing of Latvian jo (because, yet (more)), /juo/.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /jo/

Preposition

jo

  1. more; used with adjectives to form comparatives

Etymology 2

Perhaps a borrowing of Latvian jau (yet, already, after all). However, compare also Finnish jo (already), thus ultimately a common Finnic borrowing from Proto-Germanic that has likely been contaminated by the more figurative senses of Latvian jau, with the latter ultimately a distant cognate of the initial Germanic borrowing.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /jo/

Preposition

jo

  1. yet, already, after all
    • Tiit-Rein Viitso, Valts Ernštreits (2012–2013), Līvõkīel-ēstikīel-lețkīel sõnārōntõz, Tartu, Rīga: TÜ, LVA
      mōnigļikizt, ne jo lǟbõd mōzõ
      bumblebees, they are already migrating to their burrows (lit. "going inside of earth")
      amād jo ītist äb peļļõt
      not everyone makes the same [amount of money] (lit. "everyone after all doesn't earn the same")

Usage notes

  • LĒL only lists jo without listing any instances of juo. Livonian-Latvian-Livonian dictionary, in turn, only lists juo for the comparative forming preposition sense.
  • LĒL doesn't explicitly list the second sense that seems to exactly mirror Latvian jau (including the more figurative applications.) Such a function, however, is inferred from the many usage examples available in the dictionary. As a translation of Latvian jau (strictly in its temporal sense) LĒL lists jõbā (already), cf. Estonian juba.

Lojban

Cmavo

jo (rafsi jov)

  1. (conjunction) if and only if. Joins two predicate words in a complex predicate.

Derived terms

Related terms


Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [jɔ]

Particle

jo

  1. yes (word used to show agreement or acceptance)

Verb

jo

  1. third-person singular present of byś

Pronoun

jo

  1. accusative of wóno

Alternative forms

  • njo (after preposition)

Luxembourgish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /joː/
  • Rhymes: -oː
  • Homophone: Jo

Adverb

jo

  1. yes

See also

Verb

jo

  1. second-person singular imperative of joen

Northern Sami

Adverb

jo

  1. already
  2. now

Norwegian

Pronunciation

Adverb

jo

  1. yes; in disagreement with the last speaker's negative statement.
    Du har ikke pusset tennene vel? - Jo, (det har jeg)
    You haven't brushed your teeth, have you? - Yes, I have
  2. yes or no; expressing doubt. (colloquial)
    Vil du være med? - Jo...
    Do you want to join? - I'm not sure

Usage notes

ja can be interpreted as an agreement with the person replied to. jo is used instead of ja if this agreement could cause ambiguity. In example 1, agreement with the person asking the question would be the opposite of a confirmation that one actually did brush the teeth. As such ja would be ambiguous. The answer jo removes the possibility of agreement with the speaker.

Related terms


Occitan

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old Provençal eu, from Vulgar Latin *eo, attested from the 6th century in Romance, from Latin ego. Compare Catalan jo.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ʒu/, /ju/

Pronoun

jo

  1. (Gascony) I

Old French

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *eo, attested from the 6th century in Romance, from Latin ego.

Pronoun

jo

  1. I

Old Frisian

Pronoun

  1. Alternative form of , accusative and dative form of

Declension


Plautdietsch

Adverb

jo

  1. yes

Spanish

Interjection

¡Jo!

  1. Used to express surprise, amazement, or confusion.
    ¡Jo!
    I never heard anything like that before.
    ¡Jo!
    Are you serious?
    ¡Jo!
    Boy!
  2. stop, woah (especially when commanding a horse or imitative thereof)

Swedish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /juː/

Interjection

jo

  1. yes; used as a disagreement to a negative statement.
    Du har inte borstat tänderna, eller hur? - Jo, det har jag.
    "You haven't brushed your teeth, have you? - Yes, I have."

Usage notes

Ja (yes) can be interpreted as an agreement with the person replied to. Jo is used instead of ja if this agreement could cause ambiguity. In the example above agreement with the person asking the question would be the opposite of a confirmation that one actually did brush the teeth. As such ja would be ambiguous. The answer jo removes the possibility of agreement with the speaker.

In northern Sweden it is however not uncommon for the word jo to be used in place of ja in all cases, at least in spoken language.

Anagrams


Veps

Etymology

Related to Finnish jo.

Adverb

jo

  1. already

References

  • Zajceva, N. G.; Mullonen, M. I. (2007), уж, уже”, in Uz’ venä-vepsläine vajehnik / Novyj russko-vepsskij slovarʹ [New Russian–Veps Dictionary], Petrozavodsk: Periodika

West Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian , from Proto-Germanic *izwiz, dative/accusative of *jūz, from Proto-Indo-European *yū́. Compare English you, Dutch jou, u, Low German jo, ju, German euch.

Pronoun

jo

  1. you (polite)
  2. your (polite)

Usage notes

Though it is a singular pronoun, jo takes the plural conjugation of verbs.