one

A1 Beginner Oxford US //ˈwən// UK //wˈɒn// one

Archaic General-service Humorous Informal Vulgar

n. the number 1, which is the first and smallest whole number. You also use it to talk about a single person or thing.

n. The cardinal number representing a single unit, written as 1. It also functions as a determiner before a noun or as a pronoun to replace a noun.

SIMPLE

The baby is one year old.

CONTEXTUAL

There is only one cookie left in the jar.

COMPLEX

Of all the candidates, she is the one most likely to succeed.

Synonyms

Etymology 1

PIE word *h₁óynos From Middle English oon, on, oan, an, from Old English ān (“one”), from Proto-West Germanic ain, from Proto-Germanic ainaz (“one”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁óynos (“single, one”). Doublet of an. Cognate with Scots ae, ane, wan, yin (“one”); North Frisian ån (“one”); Saterland Frisian aan (“one”); West Frisian ien (“one”); Dutch een, één (“one”); German Low German een; German ein, eins (“one”); Danish en (“one”); Swedish en (“one”); Norwegian Nynorsk ein (“one”), Icelandic einn (“one”); Latin ūnus (“one”) (Old Latin oinos); Russian оди́н (odín), Spanish uno. Doublet of a, an, and Uno. False cognate of Malayalam ഒന്ന് (onnŭ), Tamil ஒன்னு (oṉṉu), ஒண்ணு (oṇṇu), ஒன்று (oṉṟu). The use as an indefinite personal pronoun may have been influenced by unrelated French on, although the Germanic languages widely use cognates for the same sense (usually in non-subject function, but also in subject function, e.g. Luxembourgish een). Verb form from Middle English onen.

Etymology 2

Analogous to several senses of Hokkien 個／个 (ê) and Mandarin 的 (de, declarative particle, nominalizer, etc.). This semantic loan might have stemmed from the apparent similarity between one as a prop-word and 的 (de) or 個 /个 (ê) as a nominalizer (e.g. 青色的 (“the green one”)). Compare Cantonese 嘅 (ge³).

Usage

Can function as a numeral (one, two, three), a determiner (one day), or a pronoun (the red one; one must be careful). The pronoun form has a plural, 'ones'.

Idioms120 entries