People have been trying to figure this one out and argued about it for many decades.

Just to give you some idea of the variety of theories: It’s from a Choktaw word (okeh). It’s from James Van Buren’s campaign slogan “Old Kinderhook” (Kinderhook being his home town). It comes from “Aux Cayes”, a town in Haiti (the name is pronounced like “O.K.” in French) — the theory being that sailors thought the rum from Aux Cayes was good, thus “O.K.”

Dont let anyone tell you they know the origin of this phrase.

Abbreviation of oll korrect, slang respelling of all correct

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 for all 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.”