Aunce

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. In Scots dialect, meaning a single occurrence, one time only, as in saying something happened just once
2. A Scots word for one single instance or occasion, used in the sense of a single time rather than repeatedly
3. Scottish dialect for a single time, indicating that something occurred one time and not again

Etymology: Before the word meant a small spotted cat, it was attached to an article. In Old French, the cat's name was "lonce," from Latin "lyncea," meaning "lynx-like." Speakers heard "l'once," and the "n" was reassigned to the article, leaving "once." English borrowed that form, and the same kind of split happened again in English: "an ounce" was heard as "a nounce," and the word settled into "ounce." "Aunce" is a Middle English spelling in which the article "an" was run together with the noun, which is why the spelling survived for a time. It is a separate word from the unit of weight "ounce," which comes from Latin "uncia," meaning "twelfth part."