Vocabulary     

What does onion mean?

Definitions for onion
ˈʌn yənonion

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word onion.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. onionnoun

    the bulb of an onion plant

  2. onion, onion plant, Allium cepanoun

    bulbous plant having hollow leaves cultivated worldwide for its rounded edible bulb

  3. onionnoun

    an aromatic flavorful vegetable

GCIDE

  1. Onionnoun

    The flavor of an onion.

Wiktionary

  1. onionnoun

    A monocotyledonous plant of genus Allium allied to garlic, used as vegetable and spice.

  2. onionnoun

    The bulb of such a plant.

  3. onionnoun

    The genus as a whole.

  4. onionnoun

    A ball.

  5. onionnoun

    A person from Bermuda or of Bermudian descent.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Onionnoun

    It hath an orbicular, coated, bulbous root; the leaves are hollow or pip; the stalk also hollow and swells out in the middle; the flowers consisting of six leaves are collected into a spherical head; the style of the flower becomes a roundish fruit divided into three cells, containing roundish seeds. Mill.

    Etymology: oignon, French.

    If the boy have not a woman’s gift
    To rain a shower of commanded tears,
    An onion will do well. William Shakespeare, Taming of the Shrew.

    I an ass, am onion-ey’d. William Shakespeare, Ant. and Cleopatra.

    This is ev’ry cook’s opinion,
    No sav’ry dish without an onion:
    But lest your kissing should be spoil’d,
    Your onions must be throughly boil’d. Jonathan Swift.

Wikipedia

  1. Onion

    An onion (Allium cepa L., from Latin cepa meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classified as a separate species until 2011.: 21  Its close relatives include garlic, scallion, leek, and chive.This genus also contains several other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion Allium fistulosum, the tree onion Allium × proliferum, and the Canada onion Allium canadense. The name wild onion is applied to a number of Allium species, but A. cepa is exclusively known from cultivation. Its ancestral wild original form is not known, although escapes from cultivation have become established in some regions. The onion is most frequently a biennial or a perennial plant, but is usually treated as an annual and harvested in its first growing season. The onion plant has a fan of hollow, bluish-green leaves and its bulb at the base of the plant begins to swell when a certain day-length is reached. The bulbs are composed of shortened, compressed, underground stems surrounded by fleshy modified scale (leaves) that envelop a central bud at the tip of the stem. In the autumn (or in spring, in the case of overwintering onions), the foliage dies down and the outer layers of the bulb become more dry and brittle. The crop is harvested and dried and the onions are ready for use or storage. The crop is prone to attack by a number of pests and diseases, particularly the onion fly, the onion eelworm, and various fungi which can cause rotting. Some varieties of A. cepa, such as shallots and potato onions, produce multiple bulbs. Onions are cultivated and used around the world. As a food item, they are usually served raw, as a vegetable or part of a prepared savoury dish, but can also be eaten cooked or used to make pickles or chutneys. They are pungent when chopped and contain certain chemical substances which may irritate the eyes.

ChatGPT

  1. onion

    An onion is a bulbous plant of the lily family, with a pungent taste and smell, used in cooking as a vegetable and seasoning. The edible part is its round, fleshy bulb, which consists of several concentric layers. It is known to originate from southwestern Asia but is now cultivated worldwide. Onion is also known for its medicinal properties and nutritional benefits.

Wikidata

  1. Onion

    The onion, also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is used as a vegetable and is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. This genus also contains several other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion, Egyptian onion, and Canada onion. The name "wild onion" is applied to a number of Allium species but A. cepa is exclusively known from cultivation and its wild original form is not known. The onion is most frequently a biennial or a perennial plant, but is usually treated as an annual and harvested in its first growing season. The onion plant has a fan of hollow, bluish-green leaves and the bulb at the base of the plant begins to swell when a certain day-length is reached. In the autumn the foliage dies down and the outer layers of the bulb become dry and brittle. The crop is harvested and dried and the onions are ready for use or storage. The crop is prone to attack by a number of pests and diseases, particularly the onion fly, the onion eelworm and various fungi that cause rotting. Some varieties of A. cepa such as shallots and potato onions produce multiple bulbs.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Onion

    un′yun, n. the name given to a few species of genus Allium, esp. Allium cepa, an edible biennial bulbous root.—adj. On′ion-eyed (Shak.), having the eyes full of tears.—n. On′ion-skin, a very thin variety of paper.—adj. On′iony. [Fr. oignon—L. unio, -onis—unus, one.]

The Foolish Dictionary, by Gideon Wurdz

  1. ONION

    The all-round strength champion of the Vegetable Kingdom, garlic and cabbage being close rivals.

Rap Dictionary

  1. onionnoun

    A perfectly rounded ass. "Dat onion booty so nice, it makes me wanna cry"

  2. onionnoun

    An ounce of narcotics.

Editors Contribution

  1. onion

    A type of cultivar, plant and seed.

    The onions grew at the garden very easily.


    Submitted by MaryC on February 18, 2020  

Suggested Resources

  1. onion

    The onion symbol -- In this Symbols.com article you will learn about the meaning of the onion symbol and its characteristic.

Surnames Frequency by Census Records

  1. ONION

    According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Onion is ranked #68770 in terms of the most common surnames in America.

    The Onion surname appeared 286 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname Onion.

    79.7% or 228 total occurrences were White.
    11.8% or 34 total occurrences were Black.
    4.5% or 13 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.
    1.7% or 5 total occurrences were American Indian or Alaskan Native.

Matched Categories

British National Corpus

  1. Nouns Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'onion' in Nouns Frequency: #2655

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

How to pronounce onion?

How to say onion in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of onion in Chaldean Numerology is: 7

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of onion in Pythagorean Numerology is: 4

Examples of onion in a Sentence

  1. Mickey Kera:

    I love the venison soup stew, salmon milk soup and Jansson's temptation (baked potato with caramelized onion gratin), which are traditional Nordic dishes, i really want to introduce Moomin and Finnish lifestyle to Hong Kong people.

  2. Jennifer Aniston:

    My perfect salad — Bulgar [sic], cucumbers, parsley, mint, red onion, garbanzo beans, feta cheese, pistachios.

  3. Khalid El Bakraoui:

    You can start basically peeling back the onion, hopefully what it will do is it will speed up the process by which they can actually look at all of the different elements of this and possibly roll up some more suspects.

  4. George Papadopoulos:

    What’s more important than even these prosecutions is allowing the American people to have an intimate vantage point into this onion of corruption that really permeated the American government in 2015 and 2016 and affected a presidency, and how and why it was allowed to take foot.

  5. Chris Kilham:

    – because your husband is right. Onions actually offer superior health benefits to some of our favorite superfoods, like pomegranates, green tea and red wine, he added. Manny Alvarez checked in with Chris Kilham, the Medicine Hunter, for a second opinion. Onions are especially high in beneficial antioxidants including the super-antioxidant, quercetin, which is useful for the heart, for the immune system( and) for many, many things in the body, i would make the claim that onions are among the healthiest of all foods Manny Alvarez could possibly eat, and that if Manny Alvarez eat an onion every day - and I ’m not talking raw, Manny Alvarez can cook it, prepare it any way Manny Alvarez like - Manny Alvarez will do far more for Manny Alvarez health than eating lots of the super fruits that are available.

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Popularity rank by frequency of use

onion#1#8560#10000

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Translations for onion

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"onion." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2025. Web. 6 Mar. 2025. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/onion>.

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    not established or confirmed
    A unsealed
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    C appellative
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