Dictionary

oft en · ADV

Pronunciation

• ŏft (cot-caught-merger)
• (US) audio
• /ɔft/ (General-American)
• /ɑft/ (cot-caught-merger)
• ŏft (Received-Pronunciation)
• ôft (General-American)
• /ɒft/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From Middle English oft (also ofte, often > Modern English often), from Old English oft (“often”), from Proto-West Germanic *oftu, *oftō, from Proto-Germanic *uftō (“often”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian oafte (“oft, often”), West Frisian oft, ofte (“oft, often”), Dutch oft (“oft, often”), German oft (“oft, often”). More at often.

Meanings

1. (dialectal, in-compounds, poetic) often; frequently; not rarely
   • An oft-told tale
   • 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;
   • 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?
   • What I can do, can do no hurt to try: Since you ſet up your reſt 'gainſt remedy: He that of greateſt works is finiſher, Oft does them by the weakeſt miniſter; So holy writ in babes hath judgment ſhown, When judges have been babes. c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
   • Now, the English-language Wikipedia does make an attempt to document knowledge of the whole world, not just the English-speaking world. At the same time, it admits in its own oft-cited “essays” that it has a pro-Western “systemic bias”; this is borne out by studies cited in the Wikipedia article about itself. 2025 September 30, Larry Sanger, “4. Revive the original neutrality policy.”, in larrysanger.org:

Forms

Deriveds

ofttimes · oftwhiles · oftness · oft-repeated · many a time and oft · oft-used · oft-mentioned

Relateds

often

Translations (6)

ka ხშირად (often; frequently; not rarely; many times) · ru часто (often; frequently; not rarely; many times) · fr souvent (often; frequently; not rarely; many times) · yi אַ סך מאָל (often; frequently; not rarely; many times) · cs často (often; frequently; not rarely; many times) · bg често (often; frequently; not rarely; many times)