ab ovo

US/æˈboʊˌvoʊ/

adverb

From the beginning.

OriginLatin ab ōvō →
First used late 16th c.
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Meanings

adverbab ovo (not comparable)
  1. not comparableFrom the beginning.First known use late 16th c.

    We should be led too far, nor would it possess sufficient interest for our readers, were we, in this place specially, to discuss this important and complicated question, and to show ab ovo why this notion has been rejected.

    2011, Ludwig Büchner, J. Frederick Collingwood, Force and Matter: Empirico-Philosophical Studies, Intelligibly Rendered, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN

Origin

  1. Latinab ōvō
  2. Englishab ovo

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

More words from Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

French ab ovo
  • ab ovoab ovo
Norwegian Bokmål ab ovo
  • ab ovoab ovo
Polish ab ovo
  • ab ovoab ovo
Spanish ab ovo
  • ab ovoab ovo
Cite this entry
APA

ab ovo. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ab%20ovo

MLA

“ab ovo.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ab%20ovo. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ab ovo,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ab%20ovo.

Source: ab ovo on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.