so

so · conjunction, adverb, adjective, interjection, pronoun¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*swē, *swō
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*swa
3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*swā
4. Old English · inherited fromswā
5. Middle English · inherited fromso
6. English todayso

From Middle English so, swo, zuo, swa, swe, from Old English swā, swǣ, swē (“so, as, the same, such, that”), from Proto-West Germanic *swā, from Proto-Germanic *swa, *swē (“so”), from Proto-Indo-European *swē, *swō (reflexive pronomial stem). Cognate with Scots sae (“so”), Saterland Frisian so (“so”), West Frisian sa (“so”), Dutch zo (“so”), German Low German so (“so”), German so (“so”), Danish så (“so”), Norwegian Nynorsk so (“so”), Swedish så (“so, such that”), Faroese so (“so”), Icelandic svo (“so”), Old Latin suad (“so”), Albanian sa (“how much, so, as”), Ancient Greek ὡς (hōs, “as”), Urdu سو (sō, “hence”).

so · noun²

1. Latin · derived fromsolve“wash away”
2. Italian · derived fromsol
3. Middle English · inherited fromsol“fifth degree or note of Guido of Arezzo's hexachordal scales”
4. English todayso

Shortened from sol, to make it an open syllable for uniformity with the rest of the scale, from Glover's solmization, from Middle English sol (“fifth degree or note of Guido of Arezzo's hexachordal scales”), Italian sol in the solmization of Guido of Arezzo, from the first syllable of Latin solve (“wash away”) in the lyrics of the scale-ascending hymn Ut queant laxis by Paulus Deacon.

so · noun³

1. Japanese · borrowed from蘇
2. English todayso

Borrowed from Japanese 蘇 (so).

So · proper noun⁴

From Cantonese 蘇／苏 (sou1).

Words from the same roots