often

adverbadjectivetop 1 000 in film dialogue

United Kingdom//ˈɒfən//
United Kingdom//ˈɒftən//
United Kingdom//ˈɔːfən//
United Kingdom//ˈɔːftən//
United Kingdom//ˈɔfən//

Frequently; many times on different occasions.

adverb

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.
It can't be said too often / often enough.
☞ This word [wrap] is often pronounced wrop, rhyming with top, even by ſpeakers much above the vulgar.

Etymology

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”).

adjective

1
archaicFrequent.
[…] it is a melancholy of mine own, compounded of many simples, extracted from many objects, and, indeed, the sundry contemplation of my travels; in which my often rumination wraps me in a most humorous sadness.
1618, Anthony Munday (translator), The Third Booke of Amadis de Gaule by Nicolas de Herberay des Essarts (1542), London, Chapter 2, p. 18, Then came the Ladies to visite him, and the Queene gaue him most gracious welcome, desiring him to be of good cheere: For heere is my Daughter (quoth she) right skilfull in the Art of Chirurgerie, that meanes to bee your often visitant.
The Shew-bread by an often remove, and renewing, was continually to stand before the Lord in his House […]

Forms

comparative: more often, oftener
superlative: most often, oftenest

offscreen · Existing or happening outside the frame of the cinema or…offshore · Moving away from the shore.offspring · A person's daughter or son; a person's child.

often · Frequently; many times on different occasions.

Ogden · A habitational surname from Old English.ogre · A large, grotesque, brutish humanoid monster, typically…Ogre · A city in central Latvia.

The neighbouring pages — Alphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.