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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

often.

Frequently; many times on different occasions.

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adv/ˈɒfən/Received-Pronunciation/ˈɒftən/Received-Pronunciation/ˈɔːfən/Received-Pronunciation, East-Anglia, Traditional/ˈɔːftən/Received-Pronunciation

  1. Frequently; many times on different occasions.

    I often walk to work when the weather is nice.
    I’ve been going to the movies more often since a new theatre opened near me.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English often, alteration (with final -n added due to analogy with Middle English selden (“seldom”)) of Middle English ofte, oft, from Old English oft (“often”), from Proto-Germanic *ufta, *uftō (“often”). Cognates Cognate with Scots affen, aften, af'en, oaffen, oaften, oftin (“often”), North Frisian aaft, oftem, oofting (“often”), Saterland Frisian oafte (“often”), German, Luxembourgish and Pennsylvania German oft (“often”), Yiddish אָפֿט (oft, “often”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk ofte (“often”), Faroese, Swedish ofta (“often”), Icelandic oft (“often”), Gothic 𐌿𐍆𐍄𐌰 (ufta, “often”).

adj/ˈɒfən/Received-Pronunciation/ˈɒftən/Received-Pronunciation/ˈɔːfən/Received-Pronunciation, East-Anglia, Traditional/ˈɔːftən/Received-Pronunciation

  1. Frequent.

    archaic
Where this word comes from

From Middle English often, alteration (with final -n added due to analogy with Middle English selden (“seldom”)) of Middle English ofte, oft, from Old English oft (“often”), from Proto-Germanic *ufta, *uftō (“often”). Cognates Cognate with Scots affen, aften, af'en, oaffen, oaften, oftin (“often”), North Frisian aaft, oftem, oofting (“often”), Saterland Frisian oafte (“often”), German, Luxembourgish and Pennsylvania German oft (“often”), Yiddish אָפֿט (oft, “often”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk ofte (“often”), Faroese, Swedish ofta (“often”), Icelandic oft (“often”), Gothic 𐌿𐍆𐍄𐌰 (ufta, “often”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.