One

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Pronunciation: /wʌn/

Definitions

1. A solitary element that signifies the lowest quantity
2. The digit that represents singularity in numerical contexts
3. A single unit representing an individual item ; the number that comes before two in counting ; an individual thing distinguished from all others

Etymology: The number "one" descends from a Proto-Indo-European root, "*h₁óynos", and its relatives are spread across the Germanic languages: Scots "ane", Dutch "een", German "ein", Danish and Swedish "en", Icelandic "einn". Latin "ūnus" (earlier "oinos") is a cognate too, as is Russian "odín" and Spanish "uno". The English word is one of the most stable in the language, changing very little from its ancestral forms. The surprise lies in a false friend. Malayalam "onnŭ" and Tamil "oṉṉu" look like they should share this ancestry, but they are unrelated and only resemble it by chance. A second, subtler twist concerns the indefinite use "one" as a pronoun, as in "one never knows." This sense may have been reinforced by French "on," which means "one" or "people," although the Germanic languages already had similar uses, so the French influence is uncertain.

Synonyms: single, individual

Antonyms: many, multiple