onion
on·ion/ˈʌnj(ə)n/noun
onion is spelled O-N-I-O-N: 5 letters and 2 syllables (on·ion). It appears 7.8 times per million words in written English, the 8,417th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, onion means “A monocotyledonous plant (Allium cepa), allied to garlic, used as vegetable and spice” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of onion is onions.
How many letters and syllables are in onion?
| Letters | 5: O-N-I-O-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: on·ion |
| In writing | 7.8 times per million words; the 8,417th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is onion?
Onion appears 7.8 times per million words in written English, the 8,417th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce onion?
- UK /ˈʌnjən/
- US /ˈʌnj(ə)n/
- Canada /ˈʌnjɪn/
Onion has 2 syllables, split on·ion in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-onion.ogg, En-us-onion.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of onion
- onions plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does onion mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A monocotyledonous plant (Allium cepa), allied to garlic, used as vegetable and spice.
- 2
The bulb of such a plant.
My eyes are stinging from the chopped onions.
- 3
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.
- 4
slangOf a drug, an ounce.
- 5
obsoleteslangA ball.
- 6
obsoleteslangA watch-seal.
- 7
Alternative letter-case form of Onion (“an inhabitant of Bermuda; a Bermudian”).
- 8
slangSoy, particularly when used in compound words related to the soy boy stereotype.
noun
- 1
slangAn inhabitant of Bermuda; a Bermudian.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Onion in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense Allium cepa:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does onion come from?
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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).