only

English

Alternative forms

• onely (obsolete)

Etymology

Old English ǣnlīċ, from Germanic; corresponding to one + -ly/-like. Cognate with Swedish enlig (“unified”), and obsolete Dutch eenlijk.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈəʊn.li/, SAMPA: /@Un.li/
• (US) IPA: /ˈoʊn.li/, SAMPA: /oUn.li/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: on‧ly

Adjective

only (not comparable)

1. Alone in a category.

   He is the only doctor for miles.

   The only people in the stadium were the fans: no players, coaches, or officials.

2. Singularly superior; the best.

   He is the only trombonist to recruit.

3. Without sibling; without a sibling of the same gender.

   He is their only son, in fact, an only child

4. (obsolete) Mere.
   • 1603, John Florio, trans. Michel de Montaigne, Essays, I.40:

     I know some who wittingly have drawne both profit and preferment from cuckoldrie, the only name whereof is so yrksome and bail-ful to so many men.

Synonyms

• (alone in a category): sole, lone
• (singularly superior): peerless, unequaled, nonpareil

Derived terms

• if any
• if only
• one and only
• only child
• only if

Translations

alone in a category

Armenian: միակ (hy) (miak) Bulgarian: единствен (bg) (edinstven) Catalan: únic (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 唯一 (zh) (wéiyī) Czech: jediný (cs) Danish: eneste (da) Dutch: enig (nl) Esperanto: sola (eo), nura (eo) Estonian: ainus (et) Finnish: ainoa (fi), ainut (fi) French: unique (fr), seul (fr) Middle French: unicque Georgian: ერთადერთი (ert‘adert‘i) German: einzig (de) Greek: μοναδικός (monadikós) m., μοναδική (monadikí) f., μοναδικό (monadikó) n., μόνος (mónos) m., μόνη (móni) f., μόνο (móno) n. Hebrew: יְחִיד (he) (y'khíd) Hungarian: egyetlen (hu) Ido: nura Italian: unico (it) Japanese: 唯一の (ja) (ゆいいつの, yuiïtsu-no) Kurdish: Sorani: ته‌نها (ku) (tanhA)

Latin: unicus (la) Malayalam: മാത്രം (maathram) Marathi: फ़क्त (mr) (fakta) Nahuatl: ça, çan Norwegian: Bokmål: eneste (no) Nynorsk:einaste (no) Persian: تَنها (fa) (tanhâ) Polish: jedyny (pl) Portuguese: único (pt) Romanian: singur (ro), unic (ro) Russian: единственный (ru) (jedínstvennyj) m. Santali: ᱮᱠᱚ (eka) Slovak: jediny (sk) m. Slovene: edin Spanish: único (es) Swedish: enda (sv) Tamil: ஒரே (ore) Telugu: ఏకైక, ఒకే, ఒక్కగానొక్క Turkish: sadece (tr), tek (tr) Ukrainian: єдиний (uk)

without sibling

Armenian: please add this translation if you can Catalan: únic (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 唯一的 (zh) (wéiyī de), 独生的 (zh) (dúshēng de) Czech: jedináček (cs) m. Finnish: ainoa (fi) French: unique (fr)

German: please add this translation if you can Italian: please add this translation if you can Malayalam: please add this translation if you can Portuguese: filho (pt) único (pt) Russian: единственный (ru) (jedínstvennyj) m. Spanish: please add this translation if you can Turkish: tek (tr)

singularly superior; the best

Catalan: únic (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 独一无二的 (zh) (dúyīwú'èr de), 最好的 (zh) (zuìhǎo de)

Finnish: ainutlaatuinen (fi) Polish: jedyny (pl), najlepszy (pl) Portuguese: único (pt), melhor (pt)

Adverb

only (not comparable)

1. without others or anything further; exclusively

   my heart is hers, and hers only

2. no more than; just

   if there were only one more ticket!

3. as recently as

   he left only moments ago

Derived terms

• if and only if
• only if

Translations

exclusively

Arabic: فقط (ar) (fáqaT) Bulgarian: само (bg) (sámo), единствено (bg) (edínstveno) Catalan: només (ca), sols (ca), solament (ca), únicament (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 只有 (zh) (zhǐyǒu), 惟獨 (zh), 惟独 (zh) (wéidú) Czech: jen (cs), jenom (cs), pouze (cs) Dutch: alleen Finnish: vain (fi), ainoastaan (fi) French: ne...que (fr), seulement (fr), uniquement (fr) Middle French: unicquement German: nur (de) Greek: μόνο (el) (móno)

Hebrew: רק (he) Hindi: सिर्फ़ (hi) (sirf), ही (hi) (hī) Interlingua: solmente (ia) Japanese: ...だけ (ja) (...dake) Old Provençal: solament Persian: فقط (fa) (faqat) Polish: tylko Portuguese: apenas (pt), somente (pt) Romanian: numai (ro) Russian: только (ru) (tól’ko), лишь (ru) (liš) Turkish: sadece (tr), yalnızca (tr), bir tek (tr) Urdu: صرف (ur) (sirf)

no more than

Arabic: فقط (ar) (fáqaT) Bulgarian: само (bg) (sámo) Catalan: només (ca), sols (ca), solament (ca), únicament (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 只有 (zh) (zhǐyǒu) Czech: jen (cs) Dutch: maar slechts Finnish: edes (fi), vain (fi) French: que (fr), seulement (fr) German: nur (de) Greek: μόνο (el) (móno) Hebrew: רק (he)

Hindi: सिर्फ़ (hi) (sirf) Japanese: ...だけ (ja) (...dake), (negative clause, meaning is positive) ...しか (ja) (...shika) Persian: فقط (fa) (faqat) Polish: tylko Portuguese: apenas (pt), somente (pt) Romanian: numai (ro) Russian: только (ru) (tól’ko) Turkish: sadece (tr), yalnızca (tr) Urdu: صرف (ur) (sirf) Volapük: te (vo)

as recently as

Catalan: només (ca), sols (ca), solament (ca), únicament (ca) Czech: až (cs), teprve (cs) Dutch: pas (nl), net (nl) Finnish: vasta (fi), juuri (fi), vain (fi)

Portuguese: apenas (pt), somente (pt) Russian: только (ru) (tól’ko), всего (ru) (vsevó) Turkish: sadece (tr), yalnızca (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Arabic: فقط (faqaṭ) Armenian: միայն (hy) (miayn) Bulgarian: само (bg) (samo) Mandarin: 只有 (zhǐyǒu), 唯一的 (wéiyī de), 仅有的 (jǐnyǒu de) Danish: kun (da), bare (da) Esperanto: nur (eo) Estonian: ainult, üksnes Georgian: მხოლოდ (ka) (mxolod) German: einzig (de), nur (de) Hebrew: רַק (he) (rak) Hungarian: csak (hu), kizárólag (hu) Ido: nur Italian: solo (it), solamente (it) Japanese: ただひとつ (tada hitotsu), 唯一の (ゆいいつの, yuiitsu no), ...だけ (...dake), のみ (nomi) Khmer: គ្រាន់តែ (krōən dtai)

Korean: 유일한 (yuilhan) Kurdish: Sorani: هه‌ر (ku) (har) Latin: sōlum (la) Lithuanian: tik (lt) Mongolian: ганц (mn) (ganc) Norwegian: Bokmål: bare (no), kun (no), utelukkende (no) Nynorsk:berre (no), einast (no), einaste (no) Persian: هَمین (hamin) Romanian: numai (ro) Slovene: samo (sl) Spanish: sólo (es), solamente (es), únicamente (es) Swedish: bara (sv), endast (sv) Thai: เอง (eng), แค่นี้ (kâe née) Turkish: sade (tr), sadece (tr) Ukrainian: тільки (til’ky) Vietnamese: chỉ (vi), chỉ thôi (vi)

Conjunction

only

1. Under the condition that; but.
2. However.

   I would enjoy running, only I have this broken leg

3. But for the fact that; except.

Translations

but

Finnish: jos (fi), sillä ehdolla, että (fi) Greek: αλλά (el) (allá)

Portuguese: mas (pt), porém (pt), todavia (pt) Russian: но (ru) (no)

however

Finnish: mutta (fi) French: mais (fr)

Portuguese: mas (pt), porém (pt), todavia (pt) Russian: только вот (ru) (tól'ko vot), но (ru) (no), однако (ru) (odnáko)

except

Finnish: mutta (fi), paitsi että (fi) French: sauf que (fr)

Portuguese: salvo (pt) que (pt), exceto (pt) que (pt) Russian: за исключением того, что (ru) (za isključénijem tovó, što)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Catalan: però Czech: jenže Dutch: maar (nl) Estonian: ainult (et) Georgian: მაგრამ არამედ (magram aramed) German: aber (de), doch (de)

Hungarian: csak (hu) Italian: ma (it) Norwegian: men (no), bare at (no) Spanish: pero (es), ojalá (es)

Related terms

• if only

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: about · its · time · #74: only · like · little · now

Anagrams

• Lyon
• ynol