so

pronunciation

How to pronounce so in British English: UK [səʊ] word uk audio image

How to pronounce so in American English: US [soʊ] word us audio image

Noun:

the syllable naming the fifth (dominant) note of any musical scale in solmization
Adjective:

conforming to truth
marked by system; in good order
Adverb:

to a very great extent or degree
in order that
in such a condition or manner, especially as expressed or implied
to a certain unspecified extent or degree
in the same way; also
in the way indicated
(usually followed by `that') to an extent or degree as expressed
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
in truth (often tends to intensify)

Word Origin

so: so: [OE] So is a general Germanic word, with relatives in German so, Dutch zo, Swedish så, and Danish saa. It is also distantly connected with Greek hōs ‘as’ and hóppōs ‘how’. Far back in its history it participated in the formation of English as and such.

so (adv.): Old English swa, swæ (adv., conj., pron.) "in this way," also "to that extent; so as, consequently, therefore," and purely intensive; from Proto-Germanic *swa (cognates: Old Saxon, Middle Dutch, Old High German so, Old Norse sva, Danish saa, Swedish så, Old Frisian sa, Dutch zo, German so "so," Gothic swa "as"), from PIE reflexive pronominal stem *swo- "so" (cognates: Greek hos "as," Old Latin suad "so," Latin se "himself"), derivative of *s(w)e-, pronoun of the third person and reflexive (see idiom). Old English swa frequently was strengthened by eall, and so also is contained in compounds as, also, such. The -w- was eliminated by contraction from 12c.; compare two, which underwent the same process but retained its spelling. As an "introductory particle" [OED] from 1590s. Used to add emphasis or contradict a negative from 1913. So in mid-20c. British slang could mean "homosexual" (adj.). So? as a term of dismissal is attested from 1886 (short for is that so?, etc.). So what as an exclamation of indifference dates from 1934. So-and-so is from 1596 meaning "something unspecified;" first recorded 1897 as a euphemistic term of abuse. Abbreviating phrase and so on is attested from 1724. So far so good is from 1721.