onus

See also: Onus, ónus, and ônus

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin onus (literally “burden”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈəʊnəs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈoʊnəs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊnəs

Noun

onus (countable and uncountable, plural onuses or onera)

1. A legal obligation.

   The onus is on the landlord to make sure the walls are protected from mildew.

2. (law) Burden of proof, onus probandi.
   • 1883, Henry Drummond, Natural Law in the Spiritual World‎^[1]:

     The argument is founded on a principle which is now acknowledged to be universal; and the onus of disproof must lie with those who may be bold enough to take up the position that a region exists where at last the Principle of Continuity fails.

3. Stigma.
   • 1993, Dorothy Mermin, Godiva's Ride: Women of Letters in England, 1830-1880, page 19:

     Geraldine evades the onus of ambition by subordinating it to the service of her family, and escapes the onus of sexuality by bodily mutilation

4. Blame.
   • 1977, Daniel Yergin, Shattered Peace: The Origins of the Cold War and the National Security State, page 6:

     ... what might be called "onus-shifting" — each side trying to make a record and place blame on the other for the division of Europe and the Cold War itself.

5. Responsibility; burden.

   The onus is on those who disagree with my proposal to explain why.

   • 2000, Beatles with Brian Roylance, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, The Beatles Anthology, page 174:

     The onus isn't on us to produce something great every time. The onus is on the public to decide whether they like it or not.

   • 2023 September 6, Anthony Lambert, “Train paths: more space for freight?”, in RAIL, number 991, page 34:

     This throws the onus on freight operators' train planners to devise ingenious solutions to finding new paths.

Translations

legal obligation

• Bulgarian: задължение (bg) n (zadǎlženie)
• Czech: povinnost (cs) f, odpovědnost (cs) f, břímě (cs) n
• Dutch: last (nl) m, plicht (nl) f
• French: responsabilité (fr) f
• German: Pflicht (de) f
• Irish: dualgas (ga) m
• Italian: onere (it)
• Japanese: 義務 (ja) (gimu), 責任 (ja) (sekinin)
• Ottoman Turkish: اصر (ısr)
• Polish: obowiązek prawny m
• Russian: правовое обязательство n (pravovoje objazatelʹstvo), обязательство (ru) n (objazatelʹstvo)
• Serbo-Croatian: obaveza (sh)
• Spanish: obligación (es) f
• Turkish: sorumluluk (tr), yük (tr)

burden of proof

• Czech: důkazní břemeno, důkazní povinnost
• Dutch: last (nl) m, bewijslast (nl) m
• French: charge de la preuve (fr) f
• German: Beweislast (de) f, Onus (de) n (dated)
• Icelandic: sönnunarbyrði f
• Italian: onere della prova
• Japanese: 責任 (ja) (sekinin)
• Polish: ciężar dowodu m
• Russian: бремя доказательства n (bremja dokazatelʹstva)
• Serbo-Croatian: teret dokaza m
• Spanish: carga de la prueba f

stigma

• Spanish: estigma (es)

blame

• Japanese: 責任 (ja) (sekinin)
• Serbo-Croatian: breme (sh) n
• Spanish: culpa (es)

responsibility, burden

• Czech: povinnost (cs) f, odpovědnost (cs) f, břímě (cs) n
• Marathi: ओझे n (ojhe), भार m (bhār)

Anagrams

• Onsu, Osun, Suon, UNOS, Unos, nous, ouns

Dutch

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin onus (“burden”).

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

onus m (plural onussen or onera, diminutive onusje n)

1. burden

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *onos, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃énh₂os, from the root *h₃enh₂-. Cognate with Sanskrit अनस् (ánas, “heavy cart; mother; birth; offspring”). See Ancient Greek ὄνομαι (ónomai, “impugn, quarrel with”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈo.nus/, [ˈɔnʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈo.nus/, [ˈɔːnus]

Noun

onus n (genitive oneris); third declension

1. burden, load

   Synonyms: mōlēs, pondus, gravitās

2. cargo, freight
3. (figuratively) tax, tax burden

Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	onus	onera
Genitive	oneris	onerum
Dative	onerī	oneribus
Accusative	onus	onera
Ablative	onere	oneribus
Vocative	onus	onera

Derived terms

• onerārius
• onerō
• onerōsus
• onustus
• onus probandī
• gravis onus

Descendants

• → Dutch: onus (learned)
• → English: onus (learned)
• → German: Onus (learned)
• Italian: onere
• Sicilian: òniri
• Portuguese: ónus

References

• “onus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “onus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• onus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• onus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Clackson, James, Indo-European Word Formation: Proceedings from the International Conference, 2002