Word History: OK is a quintessentially American term that has spread from English to many other languages. Its origin was the subject of scholarly debate for many years until Allen Walker Read showed that OK is based on a joke of sorts. OK is first recorded in 1839 but was probably in circulation before that date. During the 1830s there was a humoristic fashion in Boston newspapers to reduce a phrase to initials and supply an explanation in parentheses. Sometimes the abbreviations were misspelled to add to the humor. OK was used in March 1839 as an abbreviation forall correct, the joke being that neither the O nor the K was correct. Originally spelled with periods, this term outlived most similar abbreviations owing to its use in President Martin Van Buren's 1840 campaign for reelection. Because he was born in Kinderhook, New York, Van Buren was nicknamed Old Kinderhook, and the abbreviation proved eminently suitable for political slogans. That same year, an editorial referring to the receipt of a pin with the slogan O.K. had this comment: "frightful letters ... significant of the birth-place of Martin Van Buren, old Kinderhook, as also the rallying word of the Democracy of the late election, 'all correct' .... Those who wear them should bear in mind that it will require their most strenuous exertions ... to make all things O.K."


OK
Oklahoma.OK o•kay (ˈoʊˈkeɪ, ˌoʊˈkeɪ, ˈoʊˌkeɪ)

adj., adv., n., pl. OKs or OK's or O.K.'s or o•kays, adj.
1. all right; satisfactory: Is everything OK?
2. correct, permissible, or acceptable.
3. feeling well.
4. safe; sound.
5. adequate but unremarkable.
6. estimable, likable, or dependable.adv.
7. all right; well enough; successfully; fine: He sings OK.
8. (used to request or express agreement, acknowledgment, approval, etc.)n.
9. an approval, agreement, or endorsement.v.t.
10. to endorse or indicate approval of; authorize.
[initials of a facetious folk phonetic spelling, e.g., oll or orl korrect representing all correct, first attested in Boston in 1839, then used in 1840 by Democrat partisans of Martin Van Buren, who allegedly named their organization, the O.K. Club, in allusion to the initials of Old Kinderhook, Van Buren's nickname, derived from his birthplace, Kinderhook, New York]