omen

C2+ Topic:General Vocabulary

US /ˈoʊmən/ UK /ˈəʊmən/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a sign or event regarded as foretelling good or bad fortune

The sailors took the calm sea as a good omen for the voyage ahead.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a sign or event regarded as... portent sign augury presageforetokenharbinger auspice

Word family

Derived forms omenedominous

Related forms ominous abominate abominable

Simplified etymology

Omen is recorded in English from the late 16th century. It is historically related to abominable, which comes from Latin abominari, “to regard something as a bad omen.”

Etymology

From Latin 'omen' ('a foreboding sign, prognostic'), of uncertain origin, perhaps from an earlier *osmen related to the notion of utterance or hearing.

omen Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

General Vocabulary

External links

# omen

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈoʊmən/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈəʊmən/

## Meanings
1. a sign or event regarded as foretelling good or bad fortune

## Examples
- The sailors took the calm sea as a good omen for the voyage ahead.

## Synonyms
- portent
- sign
- augury
- presage
- foretoken
- harbinger
- auspice

## Derived Forms
- omened
- ominous

## Related Forms
- ominous
- abominate
- abominable

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: omen

## Etymology
From Latin 'omen' ('a foreboding sign, prognostic'), of uncertain origin, perhaps from an earlier *osmen related to the notion of utterance or hearing.

## AI Etymology
Omen is from Latin 'omen' ('a foreboding sign, prognostic'), of uncertain origin, perhaps from an earlier *osmen related to the notion of utterance or hearing. Important recorded forms include omen (Latin). Its earlier history remains partly uncertain, so the etymological chain is best treated cautiously. In current use it covers a sign or event regarded as foretelling good or bad fortune. The wider family includes derived forms such as omened and ominous and related words such as ominous, abominate, and abominable.

## Topics
- General Vocabulary

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