Etymograph

English

onion

Onion comes from Middle English onyoun ‘the onion plant (Allium cepa)’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *wósh₂r̥.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wósh₂r̥1‘garlic, onion’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*uznjō1reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEūniō2
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEūniōnem2accusative of ūniō
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400oignon2‘onion (Allium cepa)’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500onyoun2‘the onion plant (Allium cepa)’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1846onion2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin unio
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English onion
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1846, George William MacArthur Reynolds, The Mysteries of London: “[…] M was a Magsman, frequenting Pall-Mall; / N…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wósh₂r̥Wiktionary, Latin unio‘garlic, onion’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*uznjōWiktionary, Latin unioreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEūniōWiktionary, English onion
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEūniōnemWiktionary, English onionaccusative of ūniō
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400oignonWiktionary, English onion‘onion (Allium cepa)’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500onyounWiktionary, English onion‘the onion plant (Allium cepa)’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1846onionWiktionary, English onion. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1846, George William MacArthur Reynolds, The Mysteries of London: “[…] M was a Magsman, frequenting Pall-Mall; / N…”

Linked words

through Latin ūniō

union, unite, 2 more

Today it means

noun A monocotyledonous plant (Allium cepa), allied to garlic, used as vegetable and spice.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “onion”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin unio. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *wósh₂r̥ / onion

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