Jo
name, noun, slang ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Darling, sweetheart. Scotland
"On Old long syne my Jo, on Old long syne, That thou canst never once reflect, on Old long syne."
- 2 The staff used in the Japanese martial art of jodo or jojutsu.
- 3 Initialism of jerk off. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, slang, uncountable
- 4 Initialism of job order. Philippines, abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
- 5 A job order employee. Philippines, countable, uncountable
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- 6 Initialism of job offer. Philippines, abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
- 7 Abbreviation of jail officer. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, uncountable
- 8 Abbreviation of junior officer. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, uncountable
- 1 A female given name.
""Its name is Samantha Jo, after Josiah and me. You know they call girls Jo and Josie a sight lately; its name is agreeable to Josiah and me, very."
- 2 Alternative form of Joe. alt-of, alternative, rare
"Name, Jo. Nothing else that he knows on. Don't know that everybody has two names. Never heerd of sich a think. Don't know that Jo is short for a longer name. Thinks it long enough for him. He don't find no fault with it. Spell it? No. He can't spell it."
Example
More examples"João and Maria broke up last week."
Etymology
From Scots jo (“joy”), from Middle English joye, from Old French joie, from Late Latin gaudia, neuter plural (mistaken as feminine singular) of Latin gaudium (“joy”), from gaudēre (“to be glad, rejoice”). Doublet of joy and gaudy (“Oxford college reunion”).
Borrowed from Japanese 杖.
Clipping or hypochoristic form of various female given names beginning with Jo..., primarily Joan, Joanna, etc. but also Josephine and Jolene. Doublet of Ivanka, Jan, Janelle, Janet, Janey, Janine, Jeanette, Jeanie, Jeannette, Jeannine, Jen, Jenna, Jenny, Jessie, Jody, Juanita, Shanae, Sinead, and Vanna in reference to the first derivation.
Variant of Joe, diminutive form of Joseph, Josiah, etc.
Related phrases
More for "jo"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.