oni

From Japanese 鬼 (oni).

• IPA^(key):

• Audio (Southern England):

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• Rhymes: -iː

oni (plural onis or oni)

1. A Japanese evil spirit or demon.
   • 1908, Henri L. Joly, Legend in Japanese Art: A Description of Historical Episodes, Legendary Characters, Folk-lore, Myths, Religious Symbolism, Illustrated in the Arts of Old Japan, pages 263–264:

     ONI 鬼. Generic name for devils, the representation of which in art is quite a common feature. Onis have claws, a square head with two horns, sharp teeth, and malignant eyes surmounted by big eyebrows; occasionally they wear trousers of tiger skin.

   • 1918, William Elliot Griffis, Dutch Fairy Tales for Young Folks‎:

     Across the ocean, in Japan, there once lived curious creatures called Onis. Every Japanese boy and girl has heard of them, though one has not often been caught.

   • 1979, Marian Ury, Tales of Times Now Past: Sixty-Two Stories from a Medieval Japanese Collection, University of California Press, →ISBN, page 147:

     "That's no human being playing the instrument," he thought in amazement. "It can only be an oni or some such being."

   • 1992, Karl M. Schwarz, Netsuke Subjects: A Study on the Netsuke Themes with Reference to Their Interpretation and Symbolism, Böhlau Verlag Wien, →ISBN, page 46:

     The standing Shoki holds with his left hand an oni on his leg.

   • 2005, Christopher Hart, Manga Mania Shoujo: How to Draw the Charming and Romantic Characters of Japanese Comics, →ISBN, page 69:

     This is actually a boy bishie in the form of an ogre. It's called an oni in Japanese. Onis have supernatural powers that can command the forces of nature such as wind (to create hurricanes) and lightning (to create thunderbolts).

   • 2011, Mike Shel, “Ecology of the Oni”, in Jade Regent: The Brinewall Legacy, Paizo Publishing, →ISBN, page 69:

     The oni are a diverse group of evil spirits who take on the form of humanoid creatures so that they can enjoy the pleasures and vices of the flesh.

• NOI, ion, Ino, Ion, -ion, NIO, -ino

Inherited from Old Czech oni, from Proto-Slavic *oni, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ónos.

• IPA^(key):

• Audio:

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oni m anim pl

1. they (third person personal masculine animate plural)

oni

1. nominative animate masculine plural of onen

oni

1. yes

From French on, ultimately from Latin homō (“human being; man”). English one is not etymologically related to on, but its use as an indefinite personal pronoun was influenced by French. Doublet of homo.

• IPA^(key):

• Audio:

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• Rhymes: -oni
• Hyphenation: o‧ni

oni (accusative onin, possessive onia)

1. (indefinite personal pronoun) one

   Oni povas vidi ĝin. ― One can see it.

2. (indefinite pronoun, vague meaning) they (some people, people in general)

   Oni diras, ke Norvegio estas bonega loko por loĝi. ― They say Norway is a great place to live.

• Comparable to the use of generic "you" in English (e.g. In America, you can do what you want).
• A sentence whose subject is "oni" can often be translated as an English sentence in the passive voice, for example: "Oni ofte referencas al Kimrio kiel la 'lando de la kanto.'" can be translated as "Wales is often referred to as the 'land of song.'"
• Although the accusative onin and the possessive onia are possible, they are far less frequent than oni itself. Correlatives such as iun (“someone (accusative)”) or ies (“someone's”) are often more natural in contexts where onin or onia might make sense: "one's mother tongue" will usually be rendered ies gepatra lingvo rather than onia gepatra lingvo, though the latter would still be correct. Note that where the subject of a clause is oni, anything that oni possesses in that clause will take the reflexive possessive sia, not onia: Oni plej nature pensas en sia gepatra lingvo (one thinks most naturally in one's mother tongue).

• → Ido: onu

Personal pronouns in Esperanto

		Singular			Plural
		Nominative	Accusative	Possessive	Nominative	Accusative	Possessive
First person		mi	min	mia	ni	nin	nia
Second person	Formal	vi	vin	via	vi	vin	via
	Familiar1	ci	cin	cia
Third person	Masculine	li	lin	lia	ili iŝi3	ilin iŝin3	ilia iŝia3
	Feminine	ŝi	ŝin	ŝia
	Neuter	ĝi	ĝin	ĝia
	Gender-neutral2	ri ŝli	rin ŝlin	ria ŝlia
	Reflexive	si	sin	sia	si	sin	sia
Indefinite		oni	onin	onia	oni	onin	onia
Notes
1 The second person familiar pronouns are archaic. 2 The proposed gender-neutral third-person singular pronouns ri (rin, ria) and ŝli (ŝlin, ŝlia) are not widely used. 3 The proposed third-person feminine plural pronoun iŝi (iŝin, iŝia) is not widely used.

oni

1. water

• Alfred Russel Wallace, A Narrative of Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro
• Proceedings Philological Society, London, Volume 3

oni (plural ini)

1. mother

oni

1. Rōmaji transcription of おに

oni

1. noise

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *oni.

• IPA^(key): (13^th CE) /ˈoɲi/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /ˈoɲi/

oni m pl (third person)

1. they (masculine plural)

• Czech: oni

oni

1. nominative masculine plural of onen

Inherited from Old Polish oni. The oblique case forms come from Proto-Slavic *ji.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɔ.ɲi/

• Audio 1:

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• Audio 2:

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• Rhymes: -ɔɲi
• Syllabification: o‧ni

oni vir

1. they (third-person masculine personal nominative)

• one
• Appendix:Polish pronouns

• oni in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *oni, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ónos.

• IPA^(key): /ǒni/
• Hyphenation: o‧ni

òni (Cyrillic spelling о̀ни)

1. they (nominative plural of ȏn (“he”))

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *oni, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ónos.

• IPA^(key):

oni

1. masculine animate nominative plural of on (“they”)

• “oni”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2025

From Proto-Slavic *oni.

• IPA^(key): /ɔ̀ːni/

óni

1. they (masculine plural, more than two)

Forms between parentheses indicate clitic forms; the main forms are used for emphasis.

From English honey.

• IPA^(key): /ˈo.ni/

oni

1. honey
2. honey bee, Apis mellifera

   Synonym: onifrei

3. stingless bee

   Synonym: onifrei

oni

1. accusative singular of on
   • 1937, “Nuns”, in Volapükagased pro Nedänapükans, page 47:

     Utans, kels vilons kopiedön lisedi at, kanons loenön oni de redakan balid Vpagaseda at.

     Those who wish to make a copy of this list may borrow it from the first editor of this journal.

• onid (used before a vowel)
• on' (colloquial, before a consonant), on'd (colloquial, before a vowel)

o (“if”) +‎ ni (“not”)

• IPA^(key): /ˈɔni/

oni (triggers mixed mutation except of forms of bod)

1. unless

   oni lwydda ― unless he succeeds

   Oni bai fe yma, bydden ni wedi gwybod.

   Unless he were here, we would have known.

2. until

   oni ddaw fe ― until he comes

• (until): nes, hyd oni

oni (triggers mixed mutation)

1. used to introduce a negative question

   Oni fuom yn proffwydo yn dy enw di?

   Did we not prophesy in thy name?

2. (colloquial) used to form a tag question

   Byddwch chi yma, oni fyddwch chi?

   You'll be there, won't you?

• èní (Lagos)

Cognate with Olukumi òní, Ifè òní, and likely cognate with Igala èñíni.

• IPA^(key): /ò.nĩ́/

òní

1. today

   Òní ni ọjọ́-ìbí mi.

   Today is my birthday.

   • 2008 December 19, Yiwola Awoyale, Global Yoruba Lexical Database v. 1.0‎, number LDC2008L03, Philadelphia: Linguistic Data Consortium, →DOI, →ISBN:

     Òní l'a rí, ọba òkè l'ó rọ́la.

     It is today that we see, the Most High sees tomorrow (proverb on divine supremacy)

• Awoyale, Yiwola (2008 December 19) Global Yoruba Lexical Database v. 1.0‎, volume LDC2008L03, Philadelphia: Linguistic Data Consortium, →DOI, →ISBN
• Salem Ǒchála È̩jè̩bá (2016) A Grammar of Ígálâ, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria: The Linguistic Association of Nigeria (LAN), M & J Grand Orbit Communications Ltd., →ISBN
• SIL International (2016) Dictionnaire Ifè‎ (in French)