so

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See also Appendix:Variations of "so", and Appendix:ISO 639-1 language codes

Contents

English [edit]

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Etymology [edit]

From Middle English so, swo, from Old English swā (“so, as, the same, such, that”), from Proto-Germanic *swa, *swē (“so”), from Proto-Indo-European *swē, *swō (reflexive pronomial stem). Cognate with Scots sae (“so”), West Frisian sa (“so”), Dutch zo (“so”), German so (“so”), Danish så (“so”), Old Latin suad (“so”), Albanian sa (“how much, so, as”), Ancient Greek ὡς (hōs, “as”).

Pronunciation [edit]

Conjunction [edit]

so

  1. In order that.
    Eat your broccoli so you can have dessert.
  2. With the result that; for that reason; therefore.
    I was hungry so I asked if there were more food.
    He ate too much cake, so he got sick.
    He wanted a book, so he went to the library.
    “I need to go to the bathroom.” ―“So go!”
  3. Provided that; on condition that, as long as.
    • 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, II.18:
      As we cal money not onely that which is true and good, but also the false; so it be currant.
    • Milton
      Though all the winds of doctrine were let loose play upon the earth, so truth be in the field, we do injuriously, by licensing and prohibiting, to misdoubt her strength.

Usage notes [edit]

Chiefly in North American use, a comma or pause is often used before the conjunction when used in the sense with the result that. (A similar meaning can often be achieved by using a semicolon or colon (without the so), as for example: He drank the poison; he died.)

Synonyms [edit]

Translations [edit]

in order that
with the result that

Adverb [edit]

so (not comparable)

  1. To the (explicitly stated) extent that.
    It was so hot outside that all the plants died.
    He was so good, they hired him on the spot.
  2. (informal) To the (implied) extent.
    I need a piece of cloth so long. [= this long]
    1. (informal) Very (positive clause)
      He is so good!
    2. (informal) Very (negative clause)
      It’s not so bad. [= it's acceptable]
    3. (slang, chiefly US) Very much.
      But I so want to see the Queen when she visits our town!
      That is so not true!
  3. In a particular manner.
    Place the napkin on the table just so.
  4. In the same manner or to the same extent as aforementioned; also.
    Many people say she's pretty, but I don't think so.
    "I can count backwards from one hundred." ―"So can I."
    • 2012 May 19, Paul fletcher, “Blackpool 1-2 West Ham”, BBC Sport:
      It was a goal that meant West Ham won on their first appearance at Wembley in 31 years, in doing so becoming the first team since Leicester in 1996 to bounce straight back to the Premier League through the play-offs.
    • 1883, Howard Pyle, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Chapter V
      "Good morrow to thee, jolly fellow," quoth Robin, "thou seemest happy this merry morn."
      "Ay, that am I," quoth the jolly Butcher, "and why should I not be so? Am I not hale in wind and limb? Have I not the bonniest lass in all Nottinghamshire? And lastly, am I not to be married to her on Thursday next in sweet Locksley Town?"

Usage notes [edit]

Use of so in the sense to the implied extent is discouraged in formal writing; spoken intonation which might render the usage clearer is not usually apparent to the reader, who might reasonably expect the extent to be made explicit. For example, the reader may expect He is so good to be followed by an explanation or consequence of how good he is. Devices such as use of underscoring and the exclamation mark may be used as a means of clarifying that the implicit usage is intended; capitalising SO is also used. The derivative subsenses very and very much are similarly more apparent with spoken exaggerated intonation.

The difference between so and very in implied-extent usage is that very is more descriptive or matter-of-fact, while so indicates more emotional involvement. This so is used by both men and women, but more frequently by women. For example, she is very pretty is a simple statement of fact; she is so pretty suggests admiration. Likewise, that is very typical is a simple statement; that is SO typical of him! is an indictment. A formal (and reserved) apology may be expressed I am very sorry, but after elbowing someone in the nose during a basketball game, a man might say, Dude, I am so sorry! in order to ensure that it's understood as an accident.[1]

References [edit]
  1. ^ Mark Liberman, "Ask Language Log: So feminine?", 2012 March 26

Synonyms [edit]

Derived terms [edit]

Translations [edit]

very
to a particular extent
in a particular manner
slang: very much
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Adjective [edit]

so (comparative more so, superlative most so)

  1. True, accurate.
    That is so.
    You are responsible for this, is that not so?
  2. In that state or manner; with that attribute. (replaces the aforementioned adjective phrase)
    • 1823, Andrew Reed, Martha
      If this separation was painful to all parties, it was most so to Martha.
    • 1872, Charles Dickens, J., The Personal History of David Copperfield
      But if I had been more fit to be married, I might have made you more so too.
  3. (dated, UK, slang) Homosexual.
    Is he so?

Synonyms [edit]

Derived terms [edit]

Translations [edit]

true
in that state

Interjection [edit]

so

  1. Used after a pause for thought to introduce a new topic, question or story.
    So, let's go home.
    So, what'll you have?
    So, there was this squirrel stuck in the chimney...
  2. Short for so what..
    "You park your car in front of my house every morning." — "So?"
  3. Be as you are; stand still; used especially to cows; also used by sailors.

Translations [edit]

interjection used to mean "thus", "therefore", etc.

Noun [edit]

so (plural sos)

  1. (music) A syllable used in solfège to represent the fifth note of a major scale.

Translations [edit]

sol — see sol

Statistics [edit]

Anagrams [edit]

Asturian [edit]

Etymology 1 [edit]

From Latin sub.

Preposition [edit]

so

  1. under
Derived terms [edit]

Etymology 2 [edit]

?

Adjective [edit]

so m sg (feminine singular so, neuter singular so, masculine plural sos, feminine plural sos)

  1. his, her, its
  2. your (polite)
  3. their

Pronoun [edit]

so

  1. his, hers
  2. yours (polite)

Related terms [edit]

Etymology 3 [edit]

Alternative forms [edit]

Verb [edit]

so

  1. first-person singular present indicative of ser

Basque [edit]

Noun [edit]

so

  1. look

Catalan [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Latin sonus.

Noun [edit]

so m (plural sons)

  1. sound

Derived terms [edit]

Danish [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Old Norse sýr, from Proto-Germanic *sūz, from Proto-Indo-European *sū-.

Noun [edit]

so c (singular definite soen, plural indefinite søer)

  1. sow
  2. (pejorative) slut

Inflection [edit]

    Inflection of so
common gender Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative, dative and accusative so soen søer søerne
genitive sos soens søers søernes

Elfdalian [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Old Norse svá, from Proto-Germanic *swa, *swē. Cognate with Swedish så.

Adverb [edit]

so

  1. so, like that, in that manner
  2. so, to such a degree

Esperanto [edit]

Noun [edit]

so (plural so-oj, accusative singular so-on, accusative plural so-ojn)

  1. The name of the Latin script letter S/s.

See also [edit]

Faroese [edit]

Adverb [edit]

so

  1. so, thus, as
  2. then

German [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Old High German sō, from Proto-Germanic *swa, *swē.

Pronunciation [edit]

Adverb [edit]

so

  1. so, that
    Die Leute sind so nett. — People are so nice.
    Dieses ist nicht so gut. — This one is not that good.
  2. as (followed by an adjective or adverb plus wie in a statement of equality)
    Diese Margarine schmeckt so gut wie Butter.
    This margarine tastes as good as butter.
  3. thus, like this/that, in this/that way, in this/that manner
    Wenn du den Ball so wirfst, wirst du die Zielscheibe treffen.
    If you throw the ball like this, you'll hit the target.

Derived terms [edit]

Conjunction [edit]

so

  1. (archaic) an, if
    So es Euch beliebt. — If you please.

Gothic [edit]

Romanization [edit]

sō

  1. See 𐍃𐍉

Italian [edit]

Pronunciation [edit]

Verb [edit]

so

  1. (I) know (first-person singular present tense of sapere)

Usage notes [edit]

io non so - I do not know

Japanese [edit]

Romanization [edit]

so

  1. See そ
  2. See ソ

Lojban [edit]

Lojban cardinal numbers
 <  bi so pano  > 
    Cardinal : so

Cmavo [edit]

so (rafsi soz)

  1. nine

Luxembourgish [edit]

Verb [edit]

so

  1. second-person singular imperative of soen

Middle Dutch [edit]

Etymology 1 [edit]

From Old Dutch sō, from Proto-Germanic *swa.

Pronunciation [edit]

Adverb [edit]

so

  1. so, like that, in that manner
  2. so, to such a degree
  3. (so ... alse) as
  4. then, in that case
  5. so, therefore

Conjunction [edit]

so

  1. if, in the case that
  2. like, as
  3. (so ... so) both ... and

Descendants [edit]

  • Dutch: zo

Etymology 2 [edit]

Weakened form of soe.

Pronunciation [edit]

  • IPA: /zoː/, /zo/

Pronoun [edit]

so

  1. (chiefly Flemish) Alternative form of si. (feminine singular)

Norwegian Nynorsk [edit]

Alternative forms [edit]

  • så (main form)

Etymology [edit]

From Old Norse svá.

Adverb [edit]

so (bracket form)

  1. so, that
    Eg visste ikkje at dei skulle vera so mange.
    I didn't know that they were going to be that many.

References [edit]

  • “so” in The Nynorsk Dictionary – Dokumentasjonsprosjektet.

Old Dutch [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Proto-Germanic *swa.

Adverb [edit]

sō

  1. so, like that, in that manner

Descendants [edit]

  • Middle Dutch: so
    • Dutch: zo

Old Irish [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Proto-Celtic *so (“this”), from Proto-Indo-European *só.

Alternative forms [edit]

Determiner [edit]

so

  1. this (used after the noun, which is preceded by the definite article)
    ind epistil so – "this epistle"

Derived terms [edit]

Descendants [edit]

Old Saxon [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Proto-Germanic *swa.

Adverb [edit]

sō

  1. so, like that, in that manner

Romani [edit]

Adverb [edit]

so

  1. what

Serbo-Croatian [edit]

Alternative forms [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Proto-Slavic *solь, from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂ls.

Pronunciation [edit]

Noun [edit]

sȏ f (Cyrillic spelling со̑)

  1. (Bosnian, Serbian) salt

Declension [edit]

    declension of so
singular plural
nominative so / sol soli
genitive soli soli
dative soli solima
accusative so / sol soli
vocative soli soli
locative soli solima
instrumental solju / soli solima

Slovene [edit]

Verb [edit]

so

  1. third-person plural present tense form of biti.

Spanish [edit]

Etymology 1 [edit]

From the Latin sub.

Preposition [edit]

so

  1. under
Usage notes [edit]

So is very rare in modern Spanish, surviving only in certain expressions, including so pena de (on pain of, under penalty of), so pretexto de or so color de (under pretext of), a so capa (secretly, with bribery).

Pronoun [edit]

so

  1. you (emphatic, derogatory)
    • ¡So tonto! — You blithering idiot!

Etymology 2 [edit]

From English so.

Interjection [edit]

so

  1. (United States, Puerto Rico, El Salvador) so

Etymology 3 [edit]

Interjection [edit]

so

  1. woah!

Swedish [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Old Norse sýr, from Proto-Germanic *sūz, from Proto-Indo-European *sū-.

Noun [edit]

so c

  1. (rare) sow, female pig

Synonyms [edit]

Declension [edit]

Declension of so
singular plural
Common indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative so son sor sorna
genitive sos sons sors sornas

Usage notes [edit]

  • The more common synonym is sugga, especially for the plural form.

Volapük [edit]

Adverb [edit]

so

  1. so

Zulu [edit]

Pronoun [edit]

-so

  1. Combining stem of lona.

See also [edit]

Class 7 concords[edit]
Full noun prefix: isi-
Basic noun prefix: si-
Subject concord: si-
Object concord: -si-
Possessive concord: sa-
Adjective concord: esi-
Relative concord: esi-
Pronoun: sona, -so
See Appendix:Zulu concords for a full table.
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