off

CEFRA1

/ɒf/

adverb · adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adverb

    Away from a place or position.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Not operating, connected, or turned on.

Examples

  • It caught me off guard; I didn't know what to do.

  • He's had his beard shaved off.

At a glance

Sits at A1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
2

Deep Dive

adverb

Extra meanings
  1. Into a state of non-operation or non-existence.

  2. So as to remove or separate, or be removed or separated.

  3. In a direction away from the speaker or other reference point.

More examples

In context
  • I shouldn't have logged off.

  • He drove off in a cloud of smoke.

  • Please switch off the light when you leave.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The light switch was turned blank, so the room was dark.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adverb

From Middle English of, from Old English of, af, æf (“from, off, away”), from Proto-West Germanic *ab, from Proto-Germanic *ab (“from”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂epo (“from, off, back”). Doublet of of. Cognates Cognate with Scots aff (“away, off”), Saterland Frisian oawe, ou (“from”), West Frisian ôf (“away, off”), Dutch af (“from, off”), German ab (“from, off”), German Low German, Luxembourgish of (“off”), Yiddish אָפּ (op, “off”), Danish, Icelandic af (“from, off”), Faroese, Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk av (“off”), Swedish af, av (“off”), Gothic 𐌰𐍆 (af, “of, from”); and with Latin ab (“of, from, by”), Ancient Greek ἀπό (apó, “from”), and others.