Օ օ — o
«o» is a vowel of Armenian, the “Armenian alphabet” script, read as “o (plain, never vo)”. A plain o, with no v. For example, in the word “Օր” — day. The Armenian alphabet has 40 letters in total, and this character can be played right here. That is what separates it from ո: օ is never read vo. It appears, for example, in the word “Բարի օր” — good afternoon.
In short
| Character | Օ օ |
| Name | o |
| Sound | o (plain, never vo) |
| What it is | a vowel |
In our course the character comes 17th of 40: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are ը and մ, appears in 77 words of this site.
How it sounds
A plain o, with no v
The character in a word
A lone character is hard to remember: memory holds on to meaning, and a letter has none. The word it stands in provides that anchor.
- Օրorday
The character in the “vowels” group
Eight signs. Two of them — ե and ո — are read with a y-glide and a v at the start of a word: Ես reads 'yes', Ոչ reads 'voch'. And ը is a fleeting murmur that in writing is often not written at all.
Words with this character
- Բարի օրbari orgood afternoon
- Օգնեք, խնդրեմognek', khndremhelp!
- Օրorday
- Այսօրaysortoday
- Օճառocharrsoap
- Օրը երկու անգամorə yerku angamtwice a day
- Շտապ օգնությունshtap ognut'yunambulance
- Հանգստյան օրhangstyan orday off
- Ծննդյան օրtsnndyan orbirthday
- Աշխատանքային օրashkhatank'ayin orworkday
- Օրիորդoriordyoung lady
- Օդodair
How to remember this character
A single letter is the hardest thing to remember: memory has nothing to hold on to — a character has no meaning. A three-step loop works: see the character, try to recall the sound (for «o» it is “o (plain, never vo)”, as in the word “Օր”), see the right answer.
And come back to it the next day, not in an hour: a check a day or two later beats a check the same day. Nobody holds the whole alphabet — 40 letters — at once.
- It is better to test yourself the next day than at the end of the same session. That is why a word comes back to you tomorrow.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · g = 0.82 when tested a day or two later, against 0.56 on the same day.
- Studying a little every day gets more into your head than spending the same total time in one sitting.checked many timesDonovan & Radosevich, 1999, Journal of Applied Psychology 84(5) · 63 studies compared, difference d = 0.46 — a sizeable figure for a learning effect.
Frequently asked
How does the Armenian character օ read?
As “o (plain, never vo)” — it is a vowel of the “Armenian alphabet” script. A plain o, with no v. For example, in the word “Օր” — day.
What is the letter օ called?
O. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Armenian script: it is called “o” and reads as “o (plain, never vo)”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.
What can օ be confused with?
That is what separates it from ո: օ is never read vo. Similar characters are best studied side by side and deliberately compared: learned on different days, they stay separate and get mixed up at their first meeting inside a word.