Where does “onion” come from?

Onion comes from Middle English oinyon, from Anglo-Norman union, from Late Latin unio, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European óynos.

onion (English): A monocotyledonous plant (Allium cepa), allied to garlic, used as vegetable and spice

Definitions

  1. A monocotyledonous plant (Allium cepa), allied to garlic, used as vegetable and spice

Ancestry of “onion”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle EnglishonyounThe onion plant
2Old Frenchoignononion
3Latinūniōa unity, union
4Latin-iō—
5Proto-West Germanic-jōForms agent nouns from verbs
6Proto-Indo-European-yétiCreates intransitive, often deponent,...
7Proto-Indo-Europeanyé-—
8Chichewaiyehe, she

Words derived from “onion”

Every word from Chichewa iye →Every word from Proto-Indo-European -yéti →Every word from Latin -iō →