only

Meanings

Adjective

• Alone in a category.
• Singularly superior; the best.
• Without sibling; without a sibling of the same gender.
• Mere.

Adverb

• Without others or anything further; exclusively.
• No more than; just.
• As recently as.
• Above all others; particularly.

Noun

• An only child.

Related

Similar words

• peerless, unequaled, nonpareil

Narrower meaning words

• client-only
• server-only

Origin

• From Middle English oonly, onli, onlych, onelich, anely, from Old English ānlīċ, ǣnlīċ, from Proto-Germanic *ainalīkaz, equivalent to one + -ly. Cognate with obsolete Dutch eenlijk, German ähnlich, Old Norse álíkr, Swedish enlig ("unified"). Regarding the different phonological development of only and one, see the note in one.