# onion

Pronunciation: say "UN-yuhn" /ˈʌn.jən/

## Noun

1. The rounded, layered bulb of the plant Allium cepa, related to garlic, eaten raw or cooked as a vegetable and used to flavor food; also the plant itself.
   - Simple: A round vegetable made of layers with a strong smell and taste, used in cooking, or the plant it grows on.
   - _He caramelized two onions to spread over the steak._
   - _Add a diced onion and cook it until soft and golden._
2. Any of various related plants, mostly of the genus Allium, that resemble the common onion closely enough to share its name.
   - Simple: Any of several plants that look like the common onion and belong to the same plant family.
   - _Several wild onions in the region are safe to eat._
   - _Besides the common bulb onion, many gardeners grow the tree onion, which forms little bulbs at the top of its stalks._
3. One ounce of an illegal drug, as weighed, bought, or sold in the drug trade. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A slang word for one ounce of an illegal drug.
   - _The dealer fronted him an onion on credit until payday._
   - _The dealer charged less for a whole onion than for four separate quarter ounces._

## Noun

4. A ball, in obsolete sporting slang, especially one pitched or hit in a ball game. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: An old slang word for a ball used in a game.
5. A watch-seal, the small engraved fob hung from the chain of a pocket watch. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: An old slang word for a small seal that hangs from a watch chain.

## Other meanings

- (noun) In internet slang, soy, used mainly within compound insults that invoke the 'soy boy' stereotype of supposedly weak or effeminate men.

## Origin

This word comes from Middle English onyoun, from Old French oignon, which came from Latin ūniō ("onion"). The same Latin word was also borrowed into Old English as yne or ynnelēac.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/onion (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).