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"onion" in seven languages

Meaningonion

Spanish

cebolla

/θeˈboʝa/

fem.inherited

French

oignon

/ɔɲɔ̃/

masc.other source · Latin UNIŌNEM, a kind of single-bulbed onion

Italian

cipolla

/tʃiˈpolla/

fem.inherited

Portuguese

cebola

/seˈbolɐ/

fem.inherited

Romanian

ceapă

/ˈtʃe̯apə/

fem.other source · Latin CĒPA 'onion' (the base word, without the diminutive)

Catalan

ceba

/ˈsɛbə/

fem.other source · Latin CĒPA 'onion' (the base word, without the diminutive)

English

onion

/ˈʌnjən/

other source · Anglo-French union (Latin UNIŌNEM)

English → ItalianonioncipollaNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: chive (from CĒPA); onion, union (from UNIŌNEM).What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

CĒPULLAM‘little onion (dim. of CĒPA)’

All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.

The story

Spanish and Italian keep the Latin diminutive; French (and English, via French) use a farmers' name for an onion that grows as a single 'unit' — the same word as union.

English relatives: chive (from CĒPA); onion, union (from UNIŌNEM)

Sound laws at work

C before E and I

Learn it

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In a sentence

  • esPica la cebolla muy fina.
  • frHache finement l'oignon.
  • itTrita finemente la cipolla.
  • ptPique a cebola bem fininha.
  • roToacă ceapa mărunt.
  • caPica la ceba ben fina.
  • enChop the onion finely.

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