one
/wʌn/ numeral, pronoun, noun, adjective, determiner, verb, particle
Forms oneself one's ones oning oned wone I
- numeral 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.”
- numeral (number theory) The first positive number in the set of natural numbers.
- numeral (set theory) The cardinality of the smallest nonempty set.
- numeral (mathematics) The ordinality of an element which has no predecessor, usually called first or number one.
- pronoun (impersonal pronoun, indefinite) One thing (among a group of others); one member of a group. “Any one of the boys.”
- pronoun (impersonal pronoun, sometimes with “the”) The first mentioned of two things or people, as opposed to the other. “She offered him an apple and an orange; he took (the) one and left the other.”
- pronoun (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.”
- pronoun (pronoun) Any person, entity or thing. “"driver", noun: one who drives.”
- noun The digit or figure 1.
- noun (US) A one-dollar bill.
- noun One o'clock, either a.m. or p.m.
- noun (cricket) One run scored by hitting the ball and running between the wickets; a single.
- noun A joke or amusing anecdote. “Did you hear the one about the agnostic dyslexic insomniac?”
- noun A question. “You already know, so you can answer that one yourselves”
- noun An alcoholic drink, especially a pint or can of beer. “I had a quick one after work”
- noun An act of sexual intercourse. “Just a quick one before work”
- adjective 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.”
- adjective Being a single, unspecified thing; a; any. “My aunt used to say, "One day is just like the other."”
- adjective Sole, only. “He is the one man who can help you.”
- adjective Whole, entire. “Body and soul are not separate; they are one.”
Synonyms
yan yen generic you you they single sort type [the] type unity 1 eleven I ace ane unitary matchless nonpareil one and only peerless unmatched unmatchable unrivaled unrivalled
Antonyms
zero no a few a couple of a handful of several multiple various many numerous countless
Etymology
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 a, an, and Uno.
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. 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.
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).
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Being a single unit, or entire being or thing, and no more; not multifold; single; individual.
- adjective Denoting a person or thing conceived or spoken of indefinitely; a certain. "I am the sister of one Claudio" [Shak.], that is, of a certain man named Claudio.
- noun A single unit; as, one is the base of all numbers.
- noun A symbol representing a unit, as 1, or i.
Etymology [OE. one, on, an, AS. än; akin to D. een, OS. ën, OFries. ën, än, G. ein, Dan. een, Sw. en, Icel. einn, Goth. ains, W. un, Ir. & Gael. aon, L. unus, earlier oinos, oenos, Gr. ëka. The same word as the indefinite article a, an. sq. root 299. Cf. 2d A, 1st An, Alone, Anon, Any, None, Nonce, Only, Onion, Unit.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “one”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details