PIE word *h₁óynos Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ís? Proto-Indo-European *h₁óynos Proto-Germanic *ainaz Proto-West Germanic *ain Old English ān Middle English on English one 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.
1
The number represented by the Arabic numeral 1; the numerical value equal to that cardinal number.
In some religions, there is more than one god.
In many cultures, a baby turns one year old a year after its birth.
4 more examples
One person, one vote.
A ceremony at which two persons undertake to become one, one undertakes to become nothing, and nothing undertakes to become supportable.1911, Ambrose Bierce, “Wedding”, in The Devil’s Dictionary, New York, N.Y.; Washington, D.C.: The Neale Publishing Company, →OCLC:
Venters began to count them—one—two—three—four—on up to sixteen.1912 January, Zane Grey, chapter 8, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC:
One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do / Two can be as bad as one / It's the loneliest number since the number one1968, Harry Nilsson, “One”, in Aerial Ballet:
PIE word *h₁óynos Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ís? Proto-Indo-European *h₁óynos Proto-Germanic *ainaz Proto-West Germanic *ain Old English ān Middle English on English one 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.
1
Indefinite, Pronoun One thing (among a group of others); one member of a group.
Any one of the boys.
Every one of the bank’s employees.
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A good driver is one who drives carefully.
Can I borrow an eraser? — Sorry pal, I haven't got one.
He's not one to pull his punches.
Which happies thoſe that pay the willing lone; / That's for thy ſelfe to breed an other thee / Or ten times happier be it ten for one,[…]1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 6”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:
She offered him an apple and an orange; he took (the) one and left the other.
I am one of the few women who've climbed Everest.
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Study gives strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it.1699, William Temple, Heads designed for an essay on conversations:
3
Indefinite, Personal, Pronoun Any person (applying to people in general).
One’s guilt may trouble one, but it is best not to let oneself be troubled by things which cannot be changed. One shouldn’t be too quick to judge.
My neighbor talks to one like a teacher.
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It was not far from the house; but the ground sank into a depression there, and the ridge of it behind shut out everything except just the roof of the tallest hayrick. As one sat on the sward behind the elm, with the back turned on the rick and nothing in front but the tall elms and the oaks in the other hedge, it was quite easy to fancy it the verge of the prairie with the backwoods close by.1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:
She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace,[…]; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid,[…] — all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth, and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types as Ally Sloper, the Widow Twankey, or Miss Moucher.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter II, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
‘It's rather like a beautiful Inverness cloak one has inherited. Much too good to hide away, so one wears it instead of an overcoat and pretends it's an amusing new fashion.’1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 5, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
With fresh material, taxonomic conclusions are leavened by recognition that the material examined reflects the site it occupied; a herbarium packet gives one only a small fraction of the data desirable for sound conclusions. Herbarium material does not, indeed, allow one to extrapolate safely: what you see is what you get[…].1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page vii:
PIE word *h₁óynos Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ís? Proto-Indo-European *h₁óynos Proto-Germanic *ainaz Proto-West Germanic *ain Old English ān Middle English on English one 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.
1
Of a period of time, being particular.
One day the prince set forth to kill the dragon that had brought terror to his father’s kingdom for centuries.
One morning I had been driven to the precarious refuge afforded by the steps of the inn, after rejecting offers from the Celebrity to join him in a variety of amusements. But even here I was not free from interruption, for he was seated on a horse-block below me, playing with a fox terrier.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
2
Being a single, unspecified thing; a; any.
My aunt used to say, "One day is just like the other."
3
Sole, only.
He is the one man who can help you.
The one male audience member at the concert is invited on stage.
4
Whole, entire.
Body and soul are not separate; they are one.
5
In agreement.
We are one on the importance of learning.
6
The same.
The two types look very different, but are one species.
one
det
Etymology
PIE word *h₁óynos Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ís? Proto-Indo-European *h₁óynos Proto-Germanic *ainaz Proto-West Germanic *ain Old English ān Middle English on English one 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.
1
A single.
There was one box of biscuits available.
› Used for emphasis in place of a
2
Being a preeminent example.
He is one hell of a guy.
3
Being an unknown person with the specified name; see also "a certain".
The town records from 1843 showed the overnight incarceration of one “A. Lincoln”.
PIE word *h₁óynos Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ís? Proto-Indo-European *h₁óynos Proto-Germanic *ainaz Proto-West Germanic *ain Old English ān Middle English on English one 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.
1
To cause to become one; to gather into a single whole; to unite.
The question, of course, evokes discernment, not dogma, but we should note that the "unknowing" involves intellectual knowledge, whereas the problematic of being "oned" involves experiential knowledge.1994, Christopher Nugent, Mysticism, Death and Dying, page 55:
And both shall be oned in eternal happiness.2000, Carolyn Baker, The Journey of Forgiveness: Fulfilling the Healing Process, page 145:
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Knit and oned to God human beings are irrevocably in relationship with the divine.2003, Elizabeth MacKinlay, Mental Health and Spirituality in Later Life, page 83:
What might be if we were Oned? United, as we would say, but at a greater depth than being a season ticket holder in a football club, or a shareholder in some conglomerate.2019, David Grieve, Love in Thin Places: Confessions of a Cathedral Chaplain, page 43:
Related terms
Table of cardinal numbers 0 to 9 in various languages
one
particle
Singapore /wʌn/
Etymology 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).
1
Manglish, Singlish Used at the end of a sentence to highlight the characteristics of someone or something.
Got almonds one.
How come so heavy one ah?
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Can one, why cannot?
Need to take train one.
'My boyfriends very possessive one. They don't allow me to wear clothes I want, do things I want,' she laments.2000 February 14, Patricia Mok, The Straits Times (Life! section), Singapore: Singapore Press Holdings, →OCLC, page 5:
Why so special one?2004, Ethical Egoist, soc.culture.singapore (Usenet):
2
Manglish, Singlish Used at the end of a sentence to highlight the originator of something.
My friend send one.
Who say one?
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He ask one, not I ask one.
ooooooooooar! you own self admit one har! i never say one har!2011, Singrish King, soc.culture.singapore (Usenet):
3
Manglish, Singlish Used at the end of a sentence to highlight the likelihood of something occurring, as a characteristic of something else.
Can easily get lost one, know?
4
Manglish, Singlish A nominalizer used to form a noun phrase without a head noun.
The sell fruits one go home already.
One
noun
1
Honorific Honorific alternative letter-case form of one, sometimes used when referring to God or another important figure who is understood from context.
And He died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the One who died for them and was raised.2003, John R. Kohlenberger III, The Evangelical Parallel New Testament, 1196
Hopefully, after reading this chapter, this reflection upon Christianity versus skepticism will cause each of us to contemplate more critically upon the One who died for us so that we might live for Him.2009, Dallas R. Burdette, Biblical Preaching and Teaching, pages 128-129:
1 more example
I would encourage you to make your own investigation of the One who, as He died, prayed for those who killed Him2015, Gary Chapman, The 5 Love Languages, page 167:
one
noun
Etymology
PIE word *h₁óynos Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ís? Proto-Indo-European *h₁óynos Proto-Germanic *ainaz Proto-West Germanic *ain Old English ān Middle English on English one 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.
This effectively allows switching on and off of the flow of current, so it is either conducting or not conducting, creating the binary system of zeroes and ones used in digital computers.2024 January 4, Matthew Sparkes, “First working graphene semiconductor could lead to faster computers”, in New Scientist, retrieved 18 Jan 2024:
It was already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs.1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter 5, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume I, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC, page 97:
The ophthalmic surgeon attends Tuesdays and Saturdays, at half-past one.1853 September 17, “Metropolitan Hospitals & Medical Schools”, in The Lancet, volume 62, number 1568, →DOI, page 268:
1 more example
It was a weary time. A carriage clock had been placed on the discoloured wooden mantelpiece, and slowly its hands crept on from one to two and from two to three.1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “In which Three Investigators Come across a Dark Soul”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:
4
Ball games, Cricket, Games, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports One run scored by hitting the ball and running between the wickets; a single.
5
A joke or amusing anecdote.
Did you hear the one about the agnostic dyslexic insomniac?
6
A question.
You already know, so you can answer that one yourselves
7
An alcoholic drink, especially a pint or can of beer.
I had a quick one after work
There’s nothing better than drinking a cold one when the weather’s boiling outside
8
An act of sexual intercourse.
Just a quick one before work
9
A person or thing (having some specified characteristic or attribute).
Now, he's a curious one.
Well, well, well, it seems the silent one does have a voice, after all.
1 more example
That's the one to watch if you want to win.
10
Followed by for A person with a tendency to do something.
He's not one for pulling his punches.
Pause. They look meaningly at one another. / "You are a one for being roundabout," says the lady.1905, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, Kipps: The Story of a Simple Soul, London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, page 55:
Colloquial A particularly special or compatible person or thing.
I knew as soon I met him that John was the one for me and we were married within a month.
That car's the one — I'll buy it.
1 more example
When you love a woman then tell her / that she's really wanted / When you love a woman then tell her that she's the one / 'cause she needs somebody to tell her / that it's gonna last forever1995, Bryan Adams, Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?:
Finally got Ollie Martin. He couldn't have more poise, and what do I care if he is one?1933 March 25, Dorothy Parker, “The Diary of a Lady”, in The New Yorker, page 13:
14
Mathematics, Sciences The identity element with respect to multiplication in a ring.
15
Internet, Leet, Deliberate, Misspelling, Sarcastic Deliberate misspelling of !, used to amplify an exclamation, parodying unskilled typists who forget to press the shift key while typing exclamation points, thus typing "1".
A: SUM1 Hl3p ME im alwyz L0ziN!1!?1!
B: y d0nt u just g0 away l0zer!!1!!one!!one!!eleven!!1!
3 more examples
2003 September 26, "DEAL WITH IT!!!!11one!!", in alt.games.video.nintendo.gamecube, Usenet
2004 November 9, "AWK sound recorder!!!11!!11one", in comp.lang.awk, Usenet
2007 December 1, "STANFORD!!1!!1!one!11!!1oneone!1!1!", in rec.sport.football.college, Usenet
Etymology 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).