onion
Syllables: on·ion/ˈʌnjən//ˈʌnj(ə)n/
onion noun: a monocotyledonous plant (Allium cepa), allied to garlic, used as vegetable and spice. Also the alternative letter-case form of Onion.
Noun (1)
onion (plural onions)
- A monocotyledonous plant (Allium cepa), allied to garlic, used as vegetable and spice.
- Some of the weeds that cause an undesirable flavor in milk are: onion, tarweed, scaleweed, garlic, mustard, pepper grass.1944, Oregon. Agricultural experiment station, Circular of Information - Issues 323-395, page 3
- To get started, how about creating an edible window box? Sowed in the spring, salad seeds like radish, lettuce and spring onion will germinate so quickly that you'll be harvesting a crop in a month or two.2021, Rose Ray, Caro Langton, Into Green: Everyday Ways to Find and Lose Yourself in Nature, page 62
- The bulb of such a plant.
- My eyes are stinging from the chopped onions.
- Among the ancient Greeks, onions are most frequently mentioned as a stimulus to sexual desire.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 158
- Any of various plants, mostly of the genus Allium, that are more or less similar to Allium cepa.
- Many onions are delicious; domesticated onions such as Allium cepa and Allium fistulosum are especially good, but even wild onions such as Allium canadense and Allium validum are nice in small doses.
- Of a drug, an ounce.
- A ball.
- A watch-seal.
- […] M was a Magsman, frequenting Pall-Mall; / N was a Nose that turned chirp on his pal; / O was an Onion, possessed by a swell; / P was a Pannie, done niblike and well. […]1846, George William MacArthur Reynolds, The Mysteries of London, page 60
- Soy, particularly when used in compound words related to the soy boy stereotype.
Noun (2) capitalized: Onion
Onion (plural Onions)
- An inhabitant of Bermuda; a Bermudian.
Also used as
onion is also the alternative letter-case form of Onion.
onion is also the ellipsis of flaming onion.
onion meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
onion in Hindi
- Allium cepa
- पियाज़ piyāz, प्याज़ pyāz, कांदा kāndā
onion in Tamil
- Allium cepa
- வெங்காயம் veṅkāyam
onion in Marathi
- Allium cepa
- कांदा kāndā
- bulb
- कांदा kāndā
onion in Urdu
- Allium cepa
- پِیاز piyāz, پْیاز pyāz, کانْدا kāndā
More languagesFewer languages
- onion in Bengali
- পেঁয়াজ pẽẏaj
- onion in Telugu
- ఉల్లి ulli, ఎర్రగడ్డ erragaḍḍa, నీరుల్లి nīrulli, ఉల్లిగడ్డ ulligaḍḍa
- onion in Malayalam
- സവാള savāḷa, സവോള savōḷa, ഉള്ളി uḷḷi, സബോള sabōḷa
- onion in Kannada
- ಈರುಳ್ಳಿ īruḷḷi
- onion in Punjabi
- ਗੰਢਾ gaṇḍhā, ਗਠਾ gaṭhā, ਪਿਆਜ਼ piāza, گَنْڈھا ganḍhā
- onion in Gujarati
- ડુંગળી ḍuṅgaḷī
- onion in Odia
- ପିଆଜ piāja
- onion in Sanskrit
- उष्ण uṣṇa, दीपन dīpana, सुकन्द sukanda
- onion in Sinhala
- ලූණු lūṇu, ලූනු lūnu
- onion in Assamese
- পিয়াঁজ piãz, পনৰু ponoru
- onion in Nepali
- प्याज pyāj
- onion in Pashto
- پياز pyāz
- onion in Tagalog
- sibuyas
- onion in Arabic
- بَصَل baṣal, بصل baṣal, بصلة baṣala, بُصَل bʊṣəl
- onion in Malay
- bawang, bawang merah
- onion in Indonesian
- bawang
- onion in Persian
- پِیَاز piyāz, سوخ sōx, پِیاز piyâz
- onion in Thai
- หอมใหญ่ hɔ̌ɔm-yài, หัวหอม hǔua-hɔ̌ɔm
- onion in Vietnamese
- hành tây, hành
- onion in Myanmar
- ကြက်သွန်နီ krakswanni, ကြက်သွန် krakswan
- Sindhi
- بَصَرُ baṣaru
- Dhivehi
- ފިޔާ fiyā
- Kashmiri
- گَنڈٕ ganḍụ
- Dzongkha
- སྒོགཔ sgogp
Examples of onion in a sentence
- You can have plain green beans, or gussie them up with a bit of cheese and onion.
- Mince tastes really good fried in a pan with some chopped onion and tomato.
- The ingredients of a Spanish omelette are potatoes, eggs, onion, and a little salt.
Synonyms of onion
Forms of onion
| plural | onions |
|---|---|
| plural | Onions |
| alternative form | onion |
| alternative form (obsolete) | onyon |
Origin of onion
From Middle English onyoun, oynoun, from Old French oignon, from Latin ūniōnem, accusative of ūniō (“onion”), which had also been borrowed into Old English as yne, ynnelēac (“onion”) (> Middle English hynne-leac, henne-leac). Displaced the inherited term ramsons. * (soy): Stems from a 4chan word filter which changes the word soy to onions. The word filter was implemented in relation to the "alpha onion eater" meme, which is depicted as the direct opposite of the soy boy.
In reference to the large quantities of onions grown on Bermuda.
Words formed from onion
- black onion seed
- buckyonion
- bucky onion
- bulge in the onion bag
- bulge the onion bag
- eat the onion
- flaming onion
- French onion soup
- garlion
- glass onion
- is someone cutting onions
- know one's onions
- off one's onion
- onion bag
- onion booty
- onion bottle
- onion bread
- onion dome
- onion downy mildew
- onioned
- onion eelworm
- onion fish
- onion flute
- onion fly
- onionin A
- onionized
- onion Johnny
- Onionland
- onionless
- onionlike
- onion louse
- onion maggot
- onion mildew
- onion network
- onion paper
- onion peel
- onion powdery mildew
- onion red
- onion ring
- onion roll
- onion root twitch
- onion router
- onion routing
- onion scab
- onion service
- onion-skinned
- onion skinning
- onion skin
- onionskin
- onion smudge
- onion smut
- onion snow
- onion squash
- onion stick
- onion straw
- onion thrips
- oniontini
- onion twitch
- onion volcano
- oniony
Phrases with onion
- red onion
- sea onion
- onion bags
- onion seed
- tree onion
- wild onion
- brown onion
- green onion
- Maori onion
- onion couch
- onion domes
- onion flies
72 more phrasesFewer phrases
- onion grass
- onion peels
- onion rings
- onion rolls
- onion seeds
- onion skins
- onion snows
- pearl onion
- salad onion
- Welsh onion
- Canada onion
- desert onion
- onion breads
- onion fishes
- onion flutes
- onion papers
- onion straws
- potato onion
- spring onion
- yellow onion
- ate the onion
- Bermuda onion
- Bristol onion
- Chinese onion
- nodding onion
- onion booties
- onion bottles
- onion grasses
- onion maggots
- onion routers
- quantum onion
- redskin onion
- Spanish onion
- walking onion
- blooming onion
- cocktail onion
- eats the onion
- Egyptian onion
- onion Johnnies
- onion networks
- onion services
- onion volcanos
- peel the onion
- ball-head onion
- cipolline onion
- eaten the onion
- onion volcanoes
- peels the onion
- twincrest onion
- eating the onion
- multiplier onion
- peeled the onion
- silverskin onion
- black onion seeds
- peeling the onion
- take out an onion
- took out an onion
- wild onion dinner
- French onion soups
- taken out an onion
- takes out an onion
- peel back the onion
- taking out an onion
- bulged the onion bag
- bulges the onion bag
- peels back the onion
- bulging the onion bag
- Oklahoma onion burger
- peeled back the onion
- Oklahoma onion burgers
- peeling back the onion
- Japanese bunching onion
Words that rhyme with onion
Questions about onion
- What does onion mean?
- Onion means a monocotyledonous plant (Allium cepa), allied to garlic, used as vegetable and spice.
- What is onion in Hindi?
- Onion in Hindi is पियाज़ (piyāz), प्याज़ (pyāz), कांदा (kāndā). See Onion meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is onion?
- Onion is a noun.
- How do you pronounce onion?
- Onion is pronounced /ˈʌnjən/ (UK).
- What is the plural of onion?
- The plural of onion is onions.
Words near onion in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: onion (page history and authors); Onion (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: En-uk-onion.ogg, en-us-onion.ogg.
Cite this entry: “onion.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/onion. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.