absit omen

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin absit omen (“may what is said not come true”, literally “may omen be absent”).

Pronunciation
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈæb.sɪt ˈoʊ.mn̩/

Interjection

absit omen

  1. (rare) May what is said not come true. [First attested in the late 16th century.][1]
    • 1908, Edward Harper Parker, Ancient China Simplified, Chapman & Hall, chapter XXII
      It was only after the younger branch annexed the elder in 679 that Tsin became powerful and began to expand; and it was only when a policy of "home rule" and disintegration set in, involving the splitting up of Tsin's orthodox power into three royal states of doubtful orthodoxy, that China fell a prey to Ts'in ambition. Absit omen to us.

Usage notes
  • Used as a mild invocation. Absit omen is several orders of magnitude rarer than omen.

References
  1. “absit omen” in Lesley Brown, editor, The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 9.

Anagrams
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