Opt

How to spell opt

3 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce opt

What does opt mean?

1. verbTo make a choice or decision in favour of one thing over another.

Opt in a sentence

• Many commuters now opt for the train rather than the car.

• She decided to opt out of the company pension scheme.

Where does opt come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This short verb comes from the Latin optare, which meant 'to choose' or 'to wish for'. English took it in through the French opter, which carried the same sense of making a deliberate choice, and the word settled into English use during the nineteenth century. The same Latin root sits inside the more elaborate relatives 'option' and 'optional', and even in 'adopt', where the prefix ad- (to) was added to the idea of choosing. Despite its tiny size, opt is a genuine standalone verb rather than a clipping, and it almost always pairs with 'for', 'out', or 'in'. Because it is so short and spelled exactly as it sounds, it rarely troubles writers; the only quirk is remembering it ends in a hard 't' rather than 'ed' patterns built around it.

How the word is built

• opt (from Latin optare: to choose, wish)