onion

Meaning

Noun

• A monocotyledonous plant (Allium cepa), allied to garlic, used as vegetable and spice.
• The bulb of such a plant.
• The genus Allium as a whole.
• An ounce.
• A ball.
• A person from Bermuda or of Bermudian descent.
• A watch-seal.

Related

Similar words

• violet

Origin

• From Middle English onyon, union, oinyon, from Anglo-Norman union, Old French oignon, from Latin ūniōnem, accusative of unio#Etymology 3, which had also been borrowed into Old English as *ynne, ynnelēac (> Middle English hynne-leac, henne-leac). Also displaced Middle English knelek and the inherited term ramsons.