onion

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See also: .onion and Onion

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
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Onions.
A sliced onion.

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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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

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Noun

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onion (plural onions)

  1. A monocotyledonous plant (Allium cepa), allied to garlic, used as vegetable and spice.
  2. The bulb of such a plant.
  3. A plant of the genus Allium as a whole. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
  4. (slang, of a drug) An ounce.
  5. (obsolete baseball slang) A ball.
  6. (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. []
  7. Alternative letter-case form of Onion (an inhabitant of Bermuda; a Bermudian)
  8. (4chan, slang) Soy, particularly when used in compound words related to the soy boy stereotype.

Usage notes

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The 4chan usage stems from a 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.

Synonyms

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  • (vegetable): violet (UK dialect)

Derived terms

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Descendants

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

Translations

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ 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, →DOI, →ISBN, § 12, page 27.
  2. ^ Bingham, Caleb (1808) “Improprieties in Pronunciation, common among the people of New-England”, in The Child's Companion; Being a Conciſe Spelling-book [] [1], 12th edition, Boston: Manning & Loring, →OCLC, page 75.

Welsh

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Noun

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onion m (singulative onionyn)

  1. Alternative form of wynwyn (onions)

Mutation

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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

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  • 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