ons

See also: öns, -ons, Ons, and ONS

English

Verb

ons

1. (Singapore, Malaysia, transitive, colloquial) third-person singular simple present indicative of on

Anagrams

• -son, SON, Nos, NSO, son, NOS, Nos., nos., nos, Son, Nºˢ

Afrikaans

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔns/, [ɔ̃s]

Etymology 1

From Dutch ons, from Middle Dutch ons, from Old Dutch uns, from Proto-Germanic *uns, *unsiz.

Pronoun

ons

1. we (subject)

   Ons is ’n familie.

   We are a family.

2. us (object)

See also

Afrikaans personal pronouns

		subjective	objective	possessive determiner	possessive pronoun
singular	1st	ek	my		myne
	2nd	jy	jou		joune
	2nd, formal	u			u s’n
	3rd, masc	hy	hom	sy	syne
	3rd, fem	sy	haar		hare
	3rd, neut	dit		sy	syne
plural	1st	ons			ons s’n
	2nd	julle / jul1			julle s’n
	3rd	hulle / hul1			hulle s’n
1. The forms jul and hul are unstressed variants. They are used mostly in possessive function, but also otherwise, chiefly when the pronoun is repeated within the same sentence.

Etymology 2

From Dutch ons, inflected onze, from Middle Dutch onse, from Old Dutch *unsa, from Proto-Germanic *unseraz.

Alternative forms

• onse (archaic)

Determiner

ons

1. our
   • 1921, “Die Stem van Suid-Afrika”, C.J. Langenhoven (lyrics), M.L. de Villiers (music), South Africa:

     Ruis die stem van ons geliefde, van ons land Suid-Afrika.

     Rises the voice of our beloved, of our country South Africa.

See also

Afrikaans personal pronouns

		subjective	objective	possessive determiner	possessive pronoun
singular	1st	ek	my		myne
	2nd	jy	jou		joune
	2nd, formal	u			u s’n
	3rd, masc	hy	hom	sy	syne
	3rd, fem	sy	haar		hare
	3rd, neut	dit		sy	syne
plural	1st	ons			ons s’n
	2nd	julle / jul1			julle s’n
	3rd	hulle / hul1			hulle s’n
1. The forms jul and hul are unstressed variants. They are used mostly in possessive function, but also otherwise, chiefly when the pronoun is repeated within the same sentence.

Etymology 3

From Dutch ons, from Middle Dutch unce, from Latin uncia.

Noun

ons

1. ounce (unit of measurement)

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔns/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔns

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch ons, from Old Dutch uns, from Proto-Germanic *uns, *unsiz.

Pronoun

ons (personal)

1. us (objective form of wij or we)

   Geef ons heden ons dagelijks brood.

   Give us today our daily bread.

Descendants

• Afrikaans: ons
• Berbice Creole Dutch: ensi
• Jersey Dutch: on̈s, on̈ns
• Negerhollands: ons, oṅ
• Skepi Creole Dutch: ons

Etymology 2

From Old Dutch *unsa, from Proto-Germanic *unseraz.

Determiner

ons (dependent possessive, inflected form onze, independent possessive onze)

1. our (neuter singular)

   Geef ons heden ons dagelijks brood. ― Give us this day our daily bread

Usage notes

• Ons is the only possessive determiner in contemporary Dutch that inflects for gender and number. It becomes onze before masculines, feminines and all plurals.
• As an independent possessive pronoun it becomes de/het onze as well, but this in line with the general rules (cf. mijne, jouwe etc.).

Declension

Dutch personal pronouns

	subject		object		possessive			reflexive	genitive5
singular	full	unstr.	full	unstr.	full	unstr.	pred.
1st person	ik	'k1	mij	me	mijn	m'n1	mijne	me	mijner, mijns
2nd person	jij	je	jou	je	jouw	je	jouwe	je	jouwer, jouws
2nd person archaic or regiolectal	gij	ge	u	–	uw	–	uwe	u	uwer, uws
2nd person formal	u	–	u	–	uw	–	uwe	zich	uwer, uws
3rd person masculine	hij	ie1	hem	'm1	zijn	z'n1	zijne	zich	zijner, zijns
3rd person feminine	zij	ze	haar	h'r1, 'r1, d'r1	haar	h'r1, 'r1, d'r1	hare	zich	harer, haars
3rd person neuter	het	't1	het	't1	zijn	z'n1	zijne	zich	zijner, zijns
plural
1st person	wij	we	ons	–	ons, onze2	–	onze	ons	onzer, onzes
2nd person	jullie	je	jullie	je	jullie	je	–	je	–
2nd person archaic or regiolectal6	gij	ge	u	–	uw	–	uwe	u	uwer, uws
2nd person formal	u	–	u	–	uw	–	uwe	zich	uwer, uws
3rd person	zij	ze	hen3, hun4	ze	hun	–	hunne	zich	hunner, huns
1) Not as common in written language. 2) Inflected as an adjective. 3) In prescriptivist use, used only as direct object (accusative). 4) In prescriptivist use, used only as indirect object (dative).				5) Archaic. Nowadays used for formal, literary or poetic purposes, and in fixed expressions. 6) To differentiate from the singular gij, gelle (object form elle) and variants are commonly used colloquially in Belgium. Archaic forms are gijlieden and gijlui ("you people").

Etymology 3

From Middle Dutch unce (1240), borrowed from Latin uncia (a twelfth of a pound) probably via Old French once.

Noun

ons n (plural onsen or onzen, diminutive onsje n)

1. metric ounce (100 grams)

Usage notes

Prior to the law of 1820 that introduced the metric system in what then united both the Netherlands and Belgium a variety of measures ranging around ca 30 grams were known by this name. The law of 1820 attributed the name to the hectogram of 100 grams. In 1937 the IJkwet of the Netherlands officially abolished the term, but it is still commonly used.

Synonyms

• hectogram

Descendants

• → Caribbean Javanese: os
• → Japanese: オンス
• → Papiamentu: òns

Indonesian

Etymology

From Dutch ons, from Middle Dutch unce (1240), borrowed from Latin uncia (a twelfth of a pound) probably via Old French once.

Noun

ons (first-person possessive onsku, second-person possessive onsmu, third-person possessive onsnya)

1. metric ounce (100 grams)

Middle Dutch

Pronoun

ons

1. accusative/dative of wi

Descendants

• Dutch: ons
  • Afrikaans: ons
  • Berbice Creole Dutch: ensi
  • Jersey Dutch: on̈s, on̈ns
  • Negerhollands: ons, oṅ
  • Skepi Creole Dutch: ons
• Limburgish: ós
• Zealandic: oôns

Middle English

Adverb

ons

1. Alternative form of ones

Plautdietsch

Pronoun

ons

1. (personal) oblique of wie; us
2. (possessive) our

Samogitian

Alternative forms

• uns

Etymology

Uncertain. Possibly borrowed from Old East Slavic онъ (onŭ).

Pronoun

ons (feminine counterpart ana)

1. third-person masculine singular pronoun: he

References

• “Žemaičių Žodynas”, in Žemaičių žemė‎^[1] (overall work in Lithuanian), 2012, page 21: “Ons — jis”

Swedish

Noun

ons

1. indefinite genitive plural of o

Anagrams

• -son, nos, sno, son

Turkish

Etymology

Borrowed from French once.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈons/
• Hyphenation: ons

Noun

ons (definite accusative onsu, plural onslar)

1. ounce

Further reading

• “ons”, in Turkish dictionaries, Türk Dil Kurumu
• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “ons”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
• Ayverdi, İlhan (2010) “ons”, in Misalli Büyük Türkçe Sözlük, a reviewed and expanded single-volume edition, Istanbul: Kubbealtı Neşriyatı
• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007) “ons”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 4, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 3547

Volapük

Pronoun

ons

1. (nominative plural of on) they (neuter or of mixed or unspecified gender)
   • 1938, “Ge lü Volapük!”, in Volapükagased pro Nedänapükans, pages 17-19:

     If xamobs yufapükis dabinöl, täno mutobs dasevön, das ons valik jenöfo binons geboviks pro disein.

     If we examine the existing auxiliary languages, we must admit that they are all indeed useful for the purpose.