oft

See also: OFT and oft.

English

Etymology

From Middle English oft (also ofte, often > Modern English often), from Old English oft (“often”), from Proto-West Germanic *oftu, *oftō, from Proto-Germanic *uftō (“often”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian oafte (“oft, often”), West Frisian oft, ofte (“oft, often”), Dutch oft (“oft, often”), German oft (“oft, often”). More at often.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɔft/, enPR: ôft
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ɑft/, enPR: ŏft
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɒft/, enPR: ŏft
• Rhymes: -ɒft

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophone: offed

Adverb

oft (comparative ofter, superlative oftest)

1. (chiefly poetic, dialectal, and in combination) often; frequently; not rarely

   An oft-told tale

   • c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

     What I can do, can do no hurt to try:
     Since you ſet up your reſt 'gainſt remedy:
     He that of greateſt works is finiſher,
     Oft does them by the weakeſt miniſter;
     So holy writ in babes hath judgment ſhown,
     When judges have been babes.

   • 1819, George Gordon Byron, John Galt (biography), The Pophecy of Dante, Canto the Fourth, 1857, The Complete Works of Lord Byron, Volume 1, page 403,

     And how is it that they, the sons of fame,
     Whose inspiration seems to them to shine
     From high, they whom the nations oftest name,
     Must pass their days in penury or pain,
     Or step to grandeur through the paths of shame,
     And wear a deeper brand and gaudier chain?

   • 1902, James H. Mulligan, In Kentucky, quoted in 2005, Wade Hall (editor), The Kentucky Anthology, page 203,

     The moonlight falls the softest
     In Kentucky;
     The summer days come oftest
     In Kentucky;

   • 2025 September 30, Larry Sanger, “4. Revive the original neutrality policy.”, in larrysanger.org‎^[1], archived from the original on 5 September 2026:

     Now, the English-language Wikipedia does make an attempt to document knowledge of the whole world, not just the English-speaking world. At the same time, it admits in its own oft-cited “essays” that it has a pro-Western “systemic bias”; this is borne out by studies cited in the Wikipedia article about itself.

Usage notes

• In widespread contemporary use in combination.

Derived terms

• many a time and oft
• oft-mentioned
• oftness
• oft-repeated
• ofttimes
• oft-used
• oftwhiles

Related terms

• often

Translations

often; frequently; not rarely; many times

• Bulgarian: често (bg) (često)
• Czech: často (cs)
• French: souvent (fr)
• Georgian: ხშირად (xširad)
• Russian: часто (ru) (často)
• Yiddish: אַ סך מאָל (a sakh mol)

Anagrams

• FOT, TOF

Dutch

Conjunction

oft

1. alternative form of ofte

German

Etymology

From Middle High German ofte, oft, uft, from Old High German ofta, ofto, oftu, from Proto-Germanic *ufta, *uftō (“often”). Cognate with Dutch oft, English oft and often.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔft/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Adverb

oft (comparative öfter, superlative am öftesten)

1. often

   Synonyms: dauernd, des Öfteren, fortgesetzt, gehäuft, häufig, immer wieder, laufend, mehrfach, mehrmalig, mehrmals, öfter, öfters, oftmalig, oftmals, regelmäßig, ständig, vielfach, vielmals, wiederholt, x-mal, zigmal

Usage notes

• The superlative is, for whatever reason, sometimes frowned upon and is predominantly replaced with am häufigsten in formal style. The comparative is also sometimes replaced with häufiger.

Synonyms

• (colloquial, figurative): dutzendfach, dutzendmal, hundertmal, tausendmal, millionenmal

See also

Probability in German · Wahrscheinlichkeit (layout · text)
100%	~99%	~90%	~70%	~50%	~30%	~10%	~1%	0%
immer	fast immer	meistens, sehr häufig, sehr oft	häufig, oft	gelegentlich, manchmal	nicht häufig, nicht oft	selten	fast nie, sehr selten	nie

Further reading

• “oft” in Duden online
• “oft”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[2] (in German)

Hunsrik

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /oft/

Adverb

oft

1. often

Further reading

• Boll, Piter Kehoma (2021), “oft”, in Dicionário Hunsriqueano Riograndense–Português, 3rd edition (overall work in Portuguese), Ivoti: Riograndenser Hunsrickisch

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse oft (“often”), opt (“oft, often”), from Proto-Germanic *ufta, *uftō (“often”).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɔft

Adverb

oft (comparative oftar, superlative oftast)

1. often

   Ég fer oft í ræktina.

   I often go to the gym.

   Ég er oftast í tölvunni.

   I spend most of my time on the computer.

   Ég hef sigrað oftar en þú!

   I've won oftener than you!

Derived terms

• oftar en ekki (“more often than not”)

Luxembourgish

Etymology

From Middle High German ofte, oft, uft, from Old High German ofta, ofto, oftu, from Proto-Germanic *ufta, *uftō (“often”).

Adverb

oft

1. often

Synonyms

• dacks
• heefeg

1. often (in many cases)

Synonyms

• dacks
• gemengerhand

Middle English

Adverb

oft

1. alternative form of ofte

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *ufta.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /oft/

Adverb

oft (comparative oftor, superlative oftost)

1. often, oft
   • 10th century, The Wanderer‎^[3], archived from the original on 18 April 2012:

     Oft him ānhaga · āre gebīdeð,
     Metudes miltse, · þēah þe hē mōdċeariġ

     A loner oft waits a grace for himself,
     Creator's mercy, even if he is sorrowful

   • c. 750–900 CE, Riddle 6, in Frederick Tupper, Jr., editor, Riddles of the Exeter Book (The Albion Series), Boston; New York; Chicago; London: Ginn and Company, published 1910, page 7:

     Oft iċ wīġ sēo, frēcne feohtan.

     I oft see a war, a dangerous battle.

Antonyms

• seldan

Descendants

• Middle English: ofte, oft
  • English: oft, often
  • Scots: aft, aften

Old Norse

Alternative forms

• opt

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *ufta.

Adverb

oft

1. often

Descendants

• Icelandic: oft
• Swedish: ofta
• Norwegian: ofte

Old Saxon

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *ufta.

Adverb

oft

1. often

Descendants

• Low German: oft

Pennsylvania German

Etymology

Compare German oft, English often, Swedish ofta.

Adverb

oft

1. often, frequently

Synonyms

• efders
• oftmols

Romanian

Etymology

From aht.

Noun

oft n (plural ofturi)

1. sigh

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	oft	oftul	ofturi	ofturile
genitive-dative	oft	oftului	ofturi	ofturilor
vocative	oftule		ofturilor