onion

Meaning

1. A monocotyledonous plant (Allium cepa), allied to garlic, used as vegetable and spice.
2. The bulb of such a plant.
3. Any of various plants, mostly of the genus Allium, that are more or less similar to Allium cepa.
4. (slang) An ounce.
5. (obsolete, slang) A ball.
6. (obsolete, slang) A watch-seal.
7. (alt-of) Alternative letter-case form of Onion (“an inhabitant of Bermuda; a Bermudian”).
8. (slang) Soy, particularly when used in compound words related to the soy boy stereotype.

Synonyms

bulb

💡

scallion

garlic

🧄

Allium cepa

shallot

onion bulb

onion plant

gyros

onion leaf

poisonous

chives

bulbous

shallots

spice

wild

Welsh onion

bulbil

pierogi

wild onion

bulb onion

geophyte

green onion

Translations

oignon

🧅

cipolla

🧅

Zwiebel

🧅

cebolla

🧅

cebola

🧅

ui

🧅

κρεμμύδι

ceba

🧅

soğan

🧅

ajuin

🧅

بصل

🧅

cepa

🧅

bulbus

caepa

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈʌn.jən/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: onyoun

Cognate with Middle English: hynne-leac

In summary

From Middle English onyoun, oynoun, from Old French oignon, from Latin ūniōnem, accusative of ūniō (“onion”), 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.
* (soy): Stems from a 4chan 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.