of

Meanings

1. 1
   prep

   Expressing distance or motion.

   Take the chicken out of the freezer.

2. 2
   prep

   Expressing separation.

   Finally she was relieved of the burden of caring for her sick husband.

3. 3
   prep

   Expressing origin.

   The word is believed to be of Japanese origin.

4. 4
   prep

   Expressing agency.

   I am not particularly enamoured of this idea.

5. 5
   prep

   Expressing composition, substance.

   Many 'corks' are now actually made of plastic.

6. 6
   prep

   Introducing subject matter.

   I'm always thinking of you.

7. 7
   prep

   Having partitive effect.

   Most of these apples are rotten.

8. 8
   prep

   Expressing possession.

   He was perhaps the most famous scientist of the twentieth century.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *-o Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó Proto-Germanic *ab Proto-West Germanic *ab Old English æf Old English of Middle English of English of From Middle English of, from Old English of (“from, out of, off”), an unstressed form of æf, from Proto-West Germanic *ab, from Proto-Germanic *ab (“away; away from”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó (“away”). Doublet of off, which is the stressed descendant of the same Old English word. More at off.