We don't really know the origin of "okay", but we have a few ideas. These are just speculation though. Here's a LONG list of proposed origin for the word: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_proposed_etymologies_of_OK Both the Oxford Dictionary and Etymonline seem to think that it's most likely that the word originally came from "orl/oll korrekt", a deliberate spelling of "all correct": http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/words/what-is-the-origin-of-the-word-ok http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=OK&allowed_in_frame=0 This website claims it's been cited as a Choctaw (a native American language) word since 1825. It goes on to give more evidence of how the word came from Choctaw: https://web.archive.org/web/20120208134453/http://www.illinoisprairie.info/chocokeh.htm Long story short: we really don't know.

May be from "all correct"?

No one knows for sure. all of the other theories mentioned on here are accceppted by many lingusits. another leading theory that isn't mentioned here has to do with the 8th president of the US, Martin Van Buren. Van Buren, from the town of Kinderhook, New York, formed a political party during his presidential run in 1840 called 'Old Kinderhook'. The club became know as OK, thus propagating the usage of 'OK'. However, many linguists point out that the usage of 'OK' predates(was used before) the 'OK' club, it was just the popularity of Martin Van Buren that made the phase 'OK' famous.

Etymology There are many rumors about the origin of this word, including: They represent the first votes of the total All correct They are related to an electoral event was one of the contestants name begins with the letter O and the other starts with the letter K. That in World War II meant "zero killed" is said when there is no any injuries"0k" that everything is okay. Obediah Kelly theory: It is said that a man who works as an agent in charge Railway, and was written and signed by the shipping documents that have been selected and accepted. Acronym became ok to his name and became a show approval and acceptance. Theory of derivation from other languages: Here are some shows that ok derived from several languages, and some shows that ok derived from the Scots who use the term "och aye" and the French "aux Cayes" and much of what mentioned in oxford. Encyclopaedia Britannica said that the origin of this word was in the United States, and of them went out to the world to subsequently become a global word at all levels and especially at the global level.