onion

onion — noun

1. a cooking vegetable with a papery outside and many thin layers inside, known for

1.nounA2
Definition

a cooking vegetable with a papery outside and many thin layers inside, known for its sharp smell and taste

Example

Dad chopped an onion for the noodles in the kitchen.

countable: chop an onion

The red onion made Nina cry while she cooked dinner.

collocation: red onion

Common collocations
  • red onion
  • brown onion
  • chopped onion
  • onion soup
  • onion rings
Synonyms
  • vegetable

    a much broader word; an onion is one kind of vegetable

  • shallot

    a similar but usually smaller and milder vegetable

  • allium

    a technical plant-family word, not the normal everyday name

Grammar Patterns

chop an onion

slice onions

add onion to soup

Usage Note

Countable when you mean one whole vegetable, as in buy an onion. Often uncountable when you mean the ingredient in a dish, as in This soup needs more onion.

Common Mistakes

Please cut onion for the salad.
Please cut an onion for the salad.
Use an when you mean one whole onion.

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

For this sense, onion is the usual everyday word for the round vegetable with many layers and a sharp smell. Shallot is similar, but it is usually smaller, sweeter, and often used in smaller amounts. Garlic is stronger and comes in separate cloves, so it is not called an onion in normal use. Leek belongs to the same plant family, but it is long and stem-like rather than round. Use onion when you mean the common brown, red, or white vegetable itself or pieces of it in food. You can say Dad chopped an onion for the noodles, but not Dad chopped a garlic for the noodles.

onion ↗shallotgarlic ↗leek ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • onion soup
  • onion rings
  • red onion
  • brown onion

Phrases

  • chop an onion
  • slice an onion
  • add onion to soup

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchEnglish

Onion came into English through French from Latin unio. In Latin, that word meant something like a single unit or pearl, and it was used for the onion bulb because it was seen as one rounded whole. English later kept onion as the normal everyday name for the vegetable.