oni

See also: Appendix:Variations of "oni"

English

Etymology

From Japanese 鬼 (oni).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈoʊniː]
• Rhymes: -iː

Noun

oni (plural onis or oni)

1. A Japanese evil spirit or demon.
   • 1908, Henri L. Joly, Legend in Japanese Art: A Description of Historical Episodes, Legendary Characters, Folk-lore, Myths, Religious Symbolism, Illustrated in the Arts of Old Japan, pages 263–264:

     ONI 鬼. Generic name for devils, the representation of which in art is quite a common feature. Onis have claws, a square head with two horns, sharp teeth, and malignant eyes surmounted by big eyebrows; occasionally they wear trousers of tiger skin.

   • 1918, William Elliot Griffis, Dutch Fairy Tales for Young Folks‎^[1]:

     Across the ocean, in Japan, there once lived curious creatures called Onis. Every Japanese boy and girl has heard of them, though one has not often been caught.

   • 1979, Marian Ury, Tales of Times Now Past: Sixty-Two Stories from a Medieval Japanese Collection, University of California Press, →ISBN, page 147:

     "That's no human being playing the instrument," he thought in amazement. "It can only be an oni or some such being."

   • 1992, Karl M. Schwarz, Netsuke Subjects: A Study on the Netsuke Themes with Reference to Their Interpretation and Symbolism, Böhlau Verlag Wien, →ISBN, page 46:

     The standing Shoki holds with his left hand an oni on his leg.

   • 2005, Christopher Hart, Manga Mania Shoujo: How to Draw the Charming and Romantic Characters of Japanese Comics, →ISBN, page 69:

     This is actually a boy bishie in the form of an ogre. It's called an oni in Japanese. Onis have supernatural powers that can command the forces of nature such as wind (to create hurricanes) and lightning (to create thunderbolts).

   • 2011, Mike Shel, “Ecology of the Oni”, in Jade Regent: The Brinewall Legacy, Paizo Publishing, →ISBN, page 69:

     The oni are a diverse group of evil spirits who take on the form of humanoid creatures so that they can enjoy the pleasures and vices of the flesh.

Anagrams

• NOI, ion, Ino, Ion, -ion, NIO, -ino

Czech

Etymology

Inherited from Old Czech oni, from Proto-Slavic *oni, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ónos.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈoɲɪ]

• Audio:

  (file)

Pronoun

oni m anim pl

1. they (third person personal masculine animate plural)

Declension

Declension of oni (pl-only masculine animate pronoun)

	plural
nominative	oni
genitive	jich, nich1
dative	jim, nim1
accusative	je, ně1
vocative	—
locative	nich1
instrumental	jimi, nimi1

¹After a preposition.

Derived terms

• onikat

 

Related terms

Czech personal pronouns

		singular	plural
1st person		já	my
2nd person	familiar	ty	vy
	polite	vy
3rd person	m	on	oni*
	f	ona	ony
	n	ono	ona
reflexive		sebe, se (clitic)
* animate referents only, for inanimate ones ony is used.

Pronoun

oni

1. nominative animate masculine plural of onen

Dupaningan Agta

Interjection

oni

1. yes

Esperanto

Etymology

From French on, ultimately from Latin homō (“human being; man”). English one is not etymologically related to on, but its use as an indefinite personal pronoun was influenced by French. Doublet of homo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈoni]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -oni
• Hyphenation: o‧ni

Pronoun

oni (accusative onin, possessive onia)

1. (indefinite personal pronoun) one

   Oni povas vidi ĝin. ― One can see it.

2. (indefinite pronoun, vague meaning) they (some people, people in general)

   Oni diras, ke Norvegio estas bonega loko por loĝi. ― They say Norway is a great place to live.

Usage notes

• Comparable to the use of generic "you" in English (e.g. In America, you can do what you want).
• A sentence whose subject is "oni" can often be translated as an English sentence in the passive voice, for example: "Oni ofte referencas al Kimrio kiel la 'lando de la kanto.'" can be translated as "Wales is often referred to as the 'land of song.'"
• Although the accusative onin and the possessive onia are possible, they are far less frequent than oni itself. Correlatives such as iun (“someone (accusative)”) or ies (“someone's”) are often more natural in contexts where onin or onia might make sense: "one's mother tongue" will usually be rendered ies gepatra lingvo rather than onia gepatra lingvo, though the latter would still be correct. Note that where the subject of a clause is oni, anything that oni possesses in that clause will take the reflexive possessive sia, not onia: Oni plej nature pensas en sia gepatra lingvo (one thinks most naturally in one's mother tongue).

Descendants

• → Ido: onu

See also

• unu (“one”)

Guinau

Noun

oni

1. water

References

• Alfred Russel Wallace, A Narrative of Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro
• Proceedings [of the] Philological Society, London, Volume 3

Japanese

Romanization

oni

1. Rōmaji transcription of おに

Lindu

Noun

oni

1. noise

Old Czech

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *oni.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (13^th CE) /ˈoɲi/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /ˈoɲi/

Pronoun

oni m pl (third person)

1. they (masculine plural)

Declension

Declension of the third-person pronouns (around AD 1300)

Singular	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	on	ona	ono
Genitive	jeho, (j)ho, ň(e)ho	jie, nie	jeho, (j)ho, ň(e)ho
Dative	jemu, (j)mu, ňemu	jí, jiej, ní, niej	jemu, (j)mu, ňemu
Accusative	jej, jen, ji, jeho, (j)ho -ň, ňej, ňen, ni, ň(e)ho	ju, ňu	je, ňe + later masculine
Locative	ňem	ní, niej	ňem
Instrumental	jím, ním	jú, ňú	jím, ním
Possessive	jeho	(je)jie, jejílater	jeho
Dual	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	ona	oně
Genitive	jú, ňú
Dative	jima, nima
Accusative	jě, ně	ji, ni
Locative	ňú
Instrumental	jima, nima
Possessive	(je)jú
Plural	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	oni	ony	ona
Genitive	jich, nich
Dative	jim, nim
Accusative	jě, ně
Locative	nich
Instrumental	jimi, nimi
Possessive	(je)jich

Descendants

• Czech: oni

Pronoun

oni

1. nominative masculine plural of onen

Polish

Etymology

Inherited from Old Polish oni. The oblique case forms come from Proto-Slavic *ji.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɔ.ɲi/

• Audio 1:

  (file)

• Audio 2:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔɲi
• Syllabification: o‧ni

Pronoun

oni vir

1. they (third-person masculine personal nominative)

Declension

Declension of oni

	plural
nominative	oni
genitive	ich/nich
dative	im/nim
accusative	ich/nich
instrumental	nimi
locative	nich
vocative	—

See also

• one
• Appendix:Polish pronouns

Further reading

• oni in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *oni, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ónos.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ǒni/
• Hyphenation: o‧ni

Pronoun

òni (Cyrillic spelling о̀ни)

1. they (nominative plural of ȏn (“he”))

Declension

    Inflection of 3rd-person pronouns

	Singular			Plural
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
nominative	ȏn	òna	òno	òni	òne	òna
genitive	njȅga, ga	njȇ, je	njȅga, ga	njȋh, ih	njȋh, ih	njȋh, ih
dative	njȅmu, mu	njȏj, joj	njȅmu, mu	njȉma, im	njȉma, im	njȉma, im
accusative	njȅga, ga, nj	njȗ, ju, je	njȅga, ga, nj	njȋh, ih	njȋh, ih	njȋh, ih
vocative	—	—	—	—	—	—
locative	njȅm, njȅmu	njȏj	njȅm, njȅmu	njȉma	njȉma	njȉma
instrumental	njȋm, njíme	njȏm, njóme	njȋm, njíme	njȉma	njȉma	njȉma

Slovak

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *oni, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ónos.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɔɲi/

Pronoun

oni

1. they (third person, personal, m pl)

Related terms

• ja
• ty
• on ona ono
• my
• vy
• ony

Further reading

• “oni”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2024

Slovene

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *oni.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔ̀ːni/

Pronoun

óni

1. they (masculine plural, more than two)

Inflection

Forms between parentheses indicate clitic forms; the main forms are used for emphasis.

Declension of oni (irregular, suppletive)

singular
	masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	òn	ôna	ôno
accusative	njêga (ga, -nj)	njó (jo, -njo)	njêga (ga, -nj)
genitive	njêga (ga)	njé (je)	njêga (ga)
dative	njêmu (mu)	njéj, njèj, njì (ji)	njêmu (mu)
locative	njêm	njéj, njèj, njì	njêm
instrumental	njím	njó	njím
possessive	njegôv, njegòv	njén	njegôv, njegòv
dual
	masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	ônadva	ônidve, onédve	ônidve, onédve
accusative	njíju (ju, -nju) or plural	njíju (ju, -nju) or plural	njíju (ju, -nju) or plural
genitive	njíju (ju) or plural	njíju (ju) or plural	njíju (ju) or plural
dative	njíma (jima)	njíma (jima)	njíma (jima)
locative	njíju or plural	njíju or plural	njíju or plural
instrumental	njíma	njíma	njíma
possessive	njún	njún	njún
plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	ôni	ône	ôna
accusative	njìh (jih, -nje)	njìh (jih, -nje)	njìh (jih, -nje)
genitive	njìh (jih)	njìh (jih)	njìh (jih)
dative	njìm (jim)	njìm (jim)	njìm (jim)
locative	njìh	njìh	njìh
instrumental	njími	njími	njími
possessive	njíhov	njíhov	njíhov

See also

Slovene personal pronouns

			singular	dual	plural
1st person		m	jaz	midva	mi
		f or n		medve, midve	me
2nd person	familiar tikanje	m	ti	vidva	vi
		f or n		vedve, vidve	ve
3rd person		m	on	onadva	oni
		f	ona	onedve, onidve	one
		n	ono	onedve, onidve	ona
Polite forms (not differentiated in dual and plural)					singular
polite vikanje – instead of 2nd person, binds with forms for 2rd person plural masculine					vi, Vi
very polite onikanje – instead of 2nd or 3rd person, binds with forms for 3rd person plural masculine (archaic)					oni
hyper polite onokanje – instead of 2nd person, binds with forms for 3rd person singular neuter (obsolete)					ono
patriarchal onkanje – instead of 2nd person, binds with forms for 3rd person singular masculine (obsolete)					on

Sranan Tongo

Etymology

From English honey.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈo.ni/

Noun

oni

1. honey
2. honey bee, Apis mellifera

   Synonym: onifrei

3. stingless bee

   Synonym: onifrei

Volapük

Pronoun

oni

1. accusative singular of on
   • 1937, “Nuns”, in Volapükagased pro Nedänapükans, page 47:

     Utans, kels vilons kopiedön lisedi at, kanons loenön oni de redakan balid Vpagaseda at.

     Those who wish to make a copy of this list may borrow it from the first editor of this journal.

Welsh

Alternative forms

• onid (used before a vowel)
• on' (colloquial, before a consonant), on'd (colloquial, before a vowel)

Etymology

o (“if”) +‎ ni (“not”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɔni/

Conjunction

oni (triggers mixed mutation except of forms of bod)

1. unless

   oni lwydda ― unless he succeeds

   Oni bai fe yma, bydden ni wedi gwybod.

   Unless he were here, we would have known.

2. until

   oni ddaw fe ― until he comes

Synonyms

• (until): nes, hyd oni

Particle

oni (triggers mixed mutation)

1. used to introduce a negative question

   Oni fuom yn proffwydo yn dy enw di?

   Did we not prophesy in thy name?

2. (colloquial) used to form a tag question

   Byddwch chi yma, oni fyddwch chi?

   You'll be there, won't you?

Yoruba

Alternative forms

• èní (Lagos)

Etymology

Cognate with Olukumi òní, Ifè òní, and likely cognate with Igala èñíni.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ò.nĩ́/

Noun

òní

1. today

   Òní ni ọjọ́-ìbí mi.

   Today is my birthday.

   • 2008 December 19, Yiwola Awoyale, Global Yoruba Lexical Database v. 1.0‎^[2], number LDC2008L03, Philadelphia: Linguistic Data Consortium, →DOI, →ISBN:

     Òní l'a rí, ọba òkè l'ó rọ́la.

     It is [only] today that we see, [only] the Most High sees tomorrow (proverb on divine supremacy)

Coordinate terms

Dates relative to today in Yoruba (layout · text)
	–3	–2	–1	0	+1	+2	+3
direct speech	three days ago	two days ago	yesterday	today	tomorrow	in two days	in three days
	ìjẹrin	ìjẹta	àná	òní, èní	ọ̀la	ọ̀túnla	ọjọ́ mẹ́rin òní
reported speech	three days before, three days earlier	two days before, two days earlier	the day before	on that day	the next day	two days later	three days later
	ọjọ́ mẹ́ta sẹ́yìn	ọjọ́ méjì sẹ́yìn	ọjọ́ kan sẹ́yìn	ọjọ́ yìí	ọjọ́ tó ń bọ̀, ọjọ́ kejì	ọjọ́ méjì lẹ́yìn, ọjọ́ kẹta	ọjọ́ mẹ́ta lẹ́yìn, ọjọ́ kẹrin

Derived terms

• lónìí (“today”)
• lóòní (“today”)
• àtànámónìí (“combination of today and yesterday”)
• òde-òní (“modern, contemporary time”)
• Òní (“a child who cries non-stop until its naming ceremony”)

 

References

• Awoyale, Yiwola (2008 December 19) Global Yoruba Lexical Database v. 1.0‎^[3], volume LDC2008L03, Philadelphia: Linguistic Data Consortium, →DOI, →ISBN
• Salem Ǒchála È̩jè̩bá (2016) A Grammar of Ígálâ, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria: The Linguistic Association of Nigeria (LAN), M & J Grand Orbit Communications Ltd., →ISBN
• SIL International (2016) Dictionnaire Ifè‎^[4] (in French)