# onus
## English
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈəʊnəs/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (US) IPA: /ˈoʊnəs/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -əʊnəs

### Noun

onus (countable and uncountable, plural onuses or onera)
* A legal obligation.
    The onus is on the landlord to make sure the walls are protected from mildew.
* (law) Burden of proof, onus probandi.
** 1883, Henry Drummond, Natural Law in the Spiritual World‎: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.
* 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
* 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.
* 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
### 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)
* 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: /ˈo.nus/, [ˈɔnʊs̠]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈo.nus/, [ˈɔːnus]

### Noun

onus n (genitive oneris); third declension
* burden, load
    Synonyms: mōlēs, pondus, gravitās
* cargo, freight
* (figuratively) tax, tax burden

#### Declension

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

#### 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