onager
Syllables: ona·ger/ˈɒnəd͡ʒə/US/ˈɑnəd͡ʒɚ/
onager noun: the Asiatic wild ass or hemione (Equus hemionus), an animal of the horse family native to Asia; specifically, the Persian onager, Persian wild ass, or Persian zebra (Equus hemionus onager).
Noun
onager (plural onagers or onagri)
- The Asiatic wild ass or hemione (Equus hemionus), an animal of the horse family native to Asia; specifically, the Persian onager, Persian wild ass, or Persian zebra (Equus hemionus onager).
- [I]f the czigithai is not the ſame with the zebra, it may be the Aſiatic animal called onager or wild aſs. The onager ſhould not be confounded with the zebra; but I am uncertain whether the ſame remark is applicable to the onager and czigithai; for, from comparing the relations of travellers, it...1785, Count de Buffon [i.e., Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon], “The Zebra. [Supplement.]”, in William Smellie, transl., Natural History, General and Particular, … Translated into English. […]...
- The onager, or wild aſs, is ſeen in ſtill greater abundance than the wild horſe; and the peculiarities of its kind are more diſtinctly marked than in thoſe of the tame one.1791, Oliver Goldsmith, “Of the Ass”, in An History of the Earth, and Animated Nature. […], new edition, volume II, London: […] F[rancis] Wingrave, successor to Mr. [John] Nourse, […], →OCLC, page 345
- Synonyms:
- hemionus
- A military engine acting like a sling which threw stones from a bag or wooden bucket powered by the torsion from a bundle of ropes or sinews operated by machinery; a torsion catapult.
- The onager, meaning "wild ass," derived its name from its powerful recoil, or kick, upon discharge; […] In addition, although Josephus described an onager in action hurling a 100-pound stone over 400 yards, most onagri achieved a shorter range than the ballista, thus exposing their crews to enemy...2007, Jeff Kinard, “Ancient and Medieval Artillery”, in Artillery: An Illustrated History of Its Impact (Weapons and Warfare Series), Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 17
onager meaning in Urdu, Arabic and Indonesian
onager in Urdu
- گدھا, منجنیق
onager in Arabic
- Asiatic wild ass or hemione
- أَخْدَر ʔaḵdar, عَيْر ʕayr, فَرَأ faraʔ, فَرَاء farāʔ, عِلْج ʕilj
onager in Indonesian
- Asiatic wild ass or hemione
- keledai asia
Examples of onager in a sentence
- [I]f the czigithai is not the ſame with the zebra, it may be the Aſiatic animal called onager or wild aſs.1785, Count de Buffon [i.e., Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon], “The Zebra. [Supplement.]”, in William Smellie, transl., Natural...
- One of the onagers, however, having hurt its leg, could not be harnessed at present, and a few days' rest was necessary.1875, Jules Verne, chapter VI, in W[illiam] H[enry] G[iles] Kingston [actually Agnes Kinloch Kingston], transl., The Mysterious Island: The...
Synonyms of onager
Forms of onager
| plural | onagers |
|---|---|
| plural | onagri |
Origin of onager
From Middle English onager, onagir (“wild ass; military catapult”), from Anglo-Norman onager, Middle French onager, onagre, Old French onager, onagre (“wild ass; military catapult”) (modern French onagre), from Late Latin onager (“large siege engine”), Latin onager (“wild ass”), from Hellenistic Ancient Greek ὄναγρος (ónagros, “wild ass”), Byzantine Ancient Greek ὄναγρος (ónagros, “large siege engine”), from ὄνος (ónos, “ass”) + ἄγριος (ágrios, “wild”) (from ᾰ̓γρός (ăgrós, “countryside; field”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- (“to drive”)) + -ῐος (-ĭos, suffix forming adjectives)). The “military engine” sense alludes to the strong recoil of the engine, likened to an onager’s kick; see the 2007 quotation.
Questions about onager
- What does onager mean?
- Onager means the Asiatic wild ass or hemione (Equus hemionus), an animal of the horse family native to Asia; specifically, the Persian onager, Persian wild ass, or Persian zebra (Equus hemionus onager).
- What is onager in Urdu?
- Onager in Urdu is گدھا, منجنیق. See Onager meaning in Urdu.
- How do you use onager in a sentence?
- [I]f the czigithai is not the ſame with the zebra, it may be the Aſiatic animal called onager or wild aſs.
- What part of speech is onager?
- Onager is a noun.
- How do you pronounce onager?
- Onager is pronounced /ˈɒnəd͡ʒə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of onager?
- The plural of onager is onagers.
Words near onager in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: onager (page history and authors); onager (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-onager.wav.
Cite this entry: “onager.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/onager. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.