onion

English Online Dictionary. What means onion‎? What does onion mean?

English

Alternative forms

• onyon (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English onyoun, oynoun, from Old French oignon, from Latin ūniōnem, accusative of ūniō (“onion, large pearl”), which had also been borrowed into Old English as yne, ynnelēac (“onion”) (> Middle English hynne-leac, henne-leac). Also displaced Middle English knelek (literally “knee-leek”) and the inherited term ramsons.

• (soy): Stems from a 4chan word filter which changes the word soy to onions. The word filter was implemented in relation to the "alpha onion eater" meme, which is depicted as the direct opposite of the soy boy.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʌn.jən/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈʌŋ.jɪn/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈʌŋ.jən/, /ˈʌn.jən/
• (India, spelling pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɒnjɪən/
• (dialectal, obsolete) IPA^(key): /ˈɪŋ.ən/, /ˈɪn.jən/
• Rhymes: -ʌnjən

Noun

onion (plural onions)

2. A monocotyledonous plant (Allium cepa), allied to garlic, used as vegetable and spice.
4. The bulb of such a plant.
   • 1962 (quoting 1381 text), Hans Kurath & Sherman M. Kuhn, eds., Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, ISBN 978-0-472-01044-8, page 1242:

     dorrẹ̅, dōrī adj. & n. […] cook. glazed with a yellow substance; pome(s ~, sopes ~. […] 1381 Pegge Cook. Recipes p. 114: For to make Soupys dorry. Nym onyons […] Nym wyn […] toste wyte bred and do yt in dischis, and god Almande mylk.

5. A plant of the genus Allium as a whole. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
6. (slang, of a drug) An ounce.
7. (obsolete baseball slang) A ball.
8. (obsolete, slang) A watch-seal.
9. Alternative letter-case form of Onion (“an inhabitant of Bermuda; a Bermudian”)
10. (4chan, slang) Soy, particularly when used in compound words related to the soy boy stereotype.

Synonyms

• (vegetable): violet (UK dialect)

Derived terms

Descendants

• Bislama: anian
• Tok Pisin: anian
• → Maori: aniana

Translations

See also

• chive
• scallion
• shallot

References

Welsh

Noun

onion m (singulative onionyn)

1. Alternative form of wynwyn (“onions”)

Mutation

References

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “wynwyn, wnion, winion, winiwn, &c.”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies