Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
noun
Eggcorn of onus; the condition of being obligated or responsible for something.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable, usually
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h3enh2- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *h3énh2os Proto-Italic *onos Latin onuslbor. English onus Proto-Indo-European *h2eyḱ- Proto-Indo-European *h2eh2óyḱe Proto-Germanic *aiganą Proto-West Germanic *aigan Old English āgan Middle English owen English owe Proto-Germanic *-in- Proto-Indo-European *-h2 Proto-Indo-European *-éh2 Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh2yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h2ti Proto-Germanic *-ōną Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English oweness An eggcorn of onus, as owe (“to be under obligation”, verb) + -ness (abstract-noun suffix), interpretable as "the state of being under obligation." The eggcorn may have been produced due to the frequency of the collocation "the onus [is/was] on [someone] to," whereas onus is very rarely used in popular speech without this collocation.
