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 , allied to garlic, used...
Definitions
- A monocotyledonous plant , allied to garlic, used...
Ancestry of “onion”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Middle English | onyoun | — |
| 2 | Old French | oignon | onion |
| 3 | Latin | ūniō | — |
| 4 | Latin | -iō | — |
| 5 | Proto-West Germanic | -jō | Forms agent nouns from verbs |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | -yéti | Creates intransitive, often deponent,... |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | yé- | — |
| 8 | Chichewa | iye | he, she |
Words derived from “onion”