When we abbreviate the word “number” to “NO,” where does the “o” come from?
It is for the same reason pounds is abbreviated as lbs (from Latin l?bra) and ounce as oz (from Italian onza). English borrows a lot of words from other languages. In this case, the abbreviation “no.” for the word “number” comes from the symbol N°, (also written as “No.” or “no.”), which is in turn derived from Latin numero. As you can see, it has an “o” in it.