onion
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Onions. 
A sliced onion.
English
Alternative forms
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.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈʌn.jən/
Audio (UK) (file) Audio (US) (file) - (Canada) IPA(key): /ˈʌŋ.jɪn/
- (dialectal, obsolete) IPA(key): /ˈɪŋ.ən/, /ˈɪn.jən/
- Rhymes: -ʌnjən
Noun
onion (plural onions)
- A monocotyledonous plant (Allium cepa), allied to garlic, used as vegetable and spice.
- 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.
- 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:
- A plant of the genus Allium as a whole. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
- (slang, of a drug) An ounce.
- (obsolete baseball slang) A ball.
- (obsolete, slang) A watch-seal.
- 1846, George William MacArthur Reynolds, The Mysteries of London, page 60:
- […] M was a Magsman, frequenting Pall-Mall; / N was a Nose that turned chirp on his pal; / O was an Onion, possessed by a swell; / P was a Pannie, done niblike and well. […]
- Alternative letter-case form of Onion (“an inhabitant of Bermuda; a Bermudian”)
Synonyms
- (vegetable): violet (UK dialect)
Derived terms
- autumn onion (Allium stellatum)
- baby onion
- Bangalore rose onion
- Bermuda onion
- blooming onion
- bog onion
- Bristol onion (Allium sphaerocephalon)
- brown onion
- bucky onion
- bulb onion (Allium cepa)
- bulge in the onion bag
- bulge the onion bag
- bunching onion (Allium fistulosum)
- button onion
- Canada onion (Allium canadense)
- Cape poison onion (Ornithoglossum glaucum)
- Chinese onion
- cipolline onion
- climbing onion Bowiea volubilis)
- coast flatleaf onion (Allium falcifolium)
- cocktail onion
- common onion (Allium cepa)
- crow onion (Allium vineale)
- desert onion
- dry onion
- Egyptian onion (Allium × proliferum, syn. Allium cepa var. viviparum)
- flaming onion
- flowering onion (Allium neopolitanum)
- French onion soup
- garlion
- glass onion
- green onion
- Hooker's onion (Allium acuminatum
- is someone cutting onions
- Japanese bunching onion (Allium fistulosum)
- jeweled onion (Allium serra)
- long green onion (Allium fistulosum)
- long onion
- Maori onion
- multiplier onion (Allium cepa var. aggregatum)
- nodding onion (Allium cernuum)
- off one's onion
- Oklahoma onion burger
- one-leaf onion (Allium unifolium)
- onion bag
- onion booty
- onion bottle
- onion bread
- onion couch
- onion dome
- onion downy mildew (Peronospora destructor)
- onion eelworm (Ditylenchus dipsaci)
- onion fish
- onion flute
- onion fly (Delia antiqua)
- onion grass (Allium vineale)
- onion Johnny
- onion louse (Thrips tabaci)
- onion maggot (Delia antiqua)
- onion mildew
- onion network
- onion paper
- onion powdery mildew (Leveillula taurica)
- onion red
- onion ring
- onion router
- onion routing
- onion scab (Colletotrichum circinans)
- onion seed
- onion service
- onion skin
- onion skinning
- onion smudge (Colletotrichum circinans)
- onion smut (Urocystis cepulae)
- onion snow
- onion stick
- onion straw
- onion thrips (Thrips tabaci)
- onion weed (Nuthoscordum inodorum)
- oniony
- oniony
- Onion yellow dwarf virus
- Pacific mountain onion (Allium validum)
- Pacific onion (Allium validum)
- pearl onion
- peel back the onion
- peel the onion
- pom-pom onion (Allium serra)
- potato onion (Allium cepa var. aggregatum)
- prairie onion (Allium stellatum)
- purple onion
- quantum onion
- red onion
- red-skinned onion (Allium haematochiton)
- salad onion (Allium fistulosum)
- scytheleaf onion (Allium falcifolium)
- sea onion (Urginea maritima)
- serrated onion (Allium serra)
- shore onion (Allium schoenoprasum)
- Siberian onion
- silverskin onion
- Spanish onion
- spring onion (Allium fistulosum)
- spunion
- swamp onion (Allium validum)
- sweet onion
- table onion
- take out an onion
- tapertip onion (Allium acuminatum)
- topset onion (Allium × proliferum, syn. Allium cepa var. viviparum)
- tree onion (Allium × proliferum, syn. Allium cepa var. viviparum)
- twincrest onion (Allium bisceptrum)
- Vidalia onion
- walking onion
- walking onoin (Allium × proliferum)
- Welsh onion (Allium fistulosum)
- white onion
- wild onion
- winter onion
- yard onion
- yellow onion
Descendants
Translations
Allium cepa
|
bulb
|
genus
See also
References
- ^ Stanley, Oma (1937) “I. Vowel Sounds in Stressed Syllables”, in The Speech of East Texas (American Speech: Reprints and Monographs; 2), New York: Columbia University Press, , →ISBN, § 12, page 27.
- ^ Bingham, Caleb (1808) “Improprieties in Pronunciation, common among the people of New-England”, in The Child's Companion; Being a Conciſe Spelling-book , 12th edition, Boston: Manning & Loring, →OCLC, page 75.
Welsh
Noun
onion m (singulative onionyn)
- Alternative form of wynwyn (“onions”)
Mutation
| Welsh mutation | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| radical | soft | nasal | h-prothesis |
| onion | unchanged | unchanged | honion |
| Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs. | |||
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