Etimology
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 *óynos (“single, one”). 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. Use as indefinite personal pronoun influenced by unrelated French on.Verb form from Middle English onen.
numeral
one
The number represented by the Arabic numeral 1; the numerical value equal to that cardinal number.
(number theory) The first positive number in the set of natural numbers.
(set theory) The cardinality of the smallest nonempty set.
(mathematics) The ordinality of an element which has no predecessor, usually called first or number one.
Examples
In some religions, there is only one god.
In many cultures, a baby turns one year old a year after its birth.
One person, one vote.
Venters began to count them—one—two—three—four—on up to sixteen.
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 one
Related words
synonyms
yan, yen (Northumbria, Cumbria)
related terms
first (ordinal)
none
once
onesome
pronoun
one (reflexive oneself, possessive adjective one’s, plural ones)
(impersonal pronoun, indefinite) One thing (among a group of others); one member of a group.
(impersonal pronoun, sometimes with "the") The first mentioned of two things or people, as opposed to the other.
(indefinite personal pronoun) Any person (applying to people in general).
(pronoun) Any person, entity or thing.
Examples
Any one of the boys. The big one looks good. I want the green one. Every one of the bank’s employees. A good driver is one who drives carefully.
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, […]
She offered him an apple and an orange; he took one and left the other.
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.
Synonym: generic you
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.
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.
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.
‘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.’
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 […].
One has to admire the sheer optimism of modern science: I love the fact that there is such a discipline as astrobiology, whose practitioners' task is to imagine what life might be like on other planets. Yet here on the home planet we have profoundly strange aliens of our own.
"driver", noun: one who drives.
Related words
synonyms
(unidentified person): you, they (in nominative personal case)
noun
one (plural ones)
The digit or figure 1.
(by ellipsis) Used to briefly refer to a noun phrase understood by context
(followed by for) A person (having some specified characteristic or attribute).
(colloquial) A particularly special or compatible person or thing.
(dated, euphemistic or derogatory) A gay person.
(mathematics) The identity element with respect to multiplication in a ring.
(Internet slang, leetspeak, 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".
Examples
I need some ones to make change.
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.
The ophthalmic surgeon attends Tuesdays and Saturdays, at half-past one.
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.
Did you hear the one about the agnostic dyslexic insomniac?
Pause. They look meaningly at one another. / "You are a one for being roundabout," says the lady.
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.
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 forever
Finally got Ollie Martin. He couldn't have more poise, and what do I care if he is one?
A: SUM1 Hl3p ME im alwyz L0ziN!1!?1!Someone help me; I'm always losing!?
Someone help me; I'm always losing!?
B: y d0nt u just g0 away l0zer!!1!!one!!one!!eleven!!1!Why don't you just go away loser!
Why don't you just go away loser!
Related words
synonyms
(mathematics: multiplicative identity): unity
(US: one-dollar bill): single
(sarcastic substitution for !): 1, eleven
adjective
one (not comparable)
Of a period of time, being particular.
Being a single, unspecified thing; a; any.
Sole, only.
Whole, entire.
In agreement.
The same.
Examples
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.
My aunt used to say, "One day is just like the other."
He is the one man who can help you.
The one male audience member at the concert is invited on stage.
Body and soul are not separate; they are one.
We are one on the importance of learning.
The two types look very different, but are one species.
determiner
one
Used for emphasis in place of a
Examples
He is one hell of a guy.
The town records from 1843 showed the overnight incarceration of one “A. Lincoln”.
verb
one (third-person singular simple present ones, present participle oning, simple past and past participle oned)
To cause to become one; to gather into a single whole; to unite.
Examples
Toldyng of temporell ordinaunce, assembled and oned in the lokyng of the Divine thoughte
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.
And both shall be oned in eternal happiness.
Knit and oned to God human beings are irrevocably in relationship with the divine.
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.
Etimology
Analogous to several senses of Hokkien 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 / --ê as a nominalizer (e.g. 青色的 (“the green one”)). Compare Cantonese 嘅 (ge3).
pronoun
one (Singapore, Singlish)
(relative, rare) Functions as a relative pronoun at the end of a relative clause.