onion English · revision 15203

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=early 12th century|origins=la ūnus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈʌnjən/ ''(UK)''; /ˈʌnj(ə)n/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|unyon]], [[bor|xno|union]] (Old French [[m|fro|oignon]]), and directly [[la|ūniō|t=a kind of onion; a pearl]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) a rustic Roman word, probably from [[m|la|ūnus|t=one]],^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) from [[ine-pro|*óynos|t=one]].^(Etymonline) Etymonline explains the link as the unity of the onion's layers, unlike garlic with its cloves;^(Etymonline) Word Origins says the name was used for a variety that grew as a single bulb without offshoots.^(Cresswell 2021) Barnhart calls the Latin word of uncertain origin.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The bulb of the onion plant: 1130 (ungeon) in Barnhart, the early 12th century in Etymonline;^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) the OED's first quotation, for the plant, is from 1356–7.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Old English had [[m|ang|ynne]], in [[m|ang|ynnelēac]], from the same Latin word.^(Etymonline) The name was extended to other species of ''Allium'' from 1552 and to bulbous plants of other genera from 1548.^(OED 1989) In 19th-century slang onion meant the head, as in ''off one's onion'', mad, from 1890.^(OED 1989) ''To know one's onions'', to know one's subject well, arose in the United States in the early 20th century.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1130 – ungeon.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1356–7 – the onion plant.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1755 – to onion, season with onions.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1890 – off one's onion.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A plant, ''Allium cepa'', grown for its rounded edible [[bulb]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The bulb itself, made of layers of fleshy leaf bases with a strong smell and taste.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Any of several related plants, such as the Welsh onion.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[oniony]]

+ * [[onionlike]]

+ * [[onionskin]]

+ * [[onion dome]]

+ * [[onion ring]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[one]]

+ * [[union]]

+ * [[unity]]

+ * [[scallion]]

+ * [[shallot]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}