Etymology

ab ovo

Today it means: From the beginning. Full definition →

First used late 16th c.Latin ab ōvō
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Latin · learned borrowing fromab ōvō
  2. English todayab ovo

Learned borrowing from Latin ab ōvō (literally “from the egg”).

First known use, by meaning

  • from late 16th c. From the beginning.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.