one

Etymology 1

From Middle English oon, on, oan, an, from Old English ān (“one”), from Proto-West Germanic *ain, from Proto-Germanic *ainaz (“one”), from Proto-Indo-European *óynos (“single, one”). Cognate with Scots ae, ane, wan, yin (“one”); North Frisian ån (“one”); Saterland Frisian aan (“one”); West Frisian ien (“one”); Dutch een, één (“one”); German Low German een; German ein, eins (“one”); Danish en (“one”); Swedish en (“one”); Norwegian Nynorsk ein (“one”), Icelandic einn (“one”); Latin ūnus (“one”) (Old Latin oinos); Russian оди́н (odín). Doublet of a, an, and Uno. Use as indefinite personal pronoun influenced by unrelated French on. Verb form from Middle English onen.

num

1. The number represented by the Arabic numeral 1; the numerical value equal to that cardinal number.
   In some religions, there is only one god.
   In many cultures, a baby turns one year old a year after its birth.
   One person, one vote.
   One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do / Two can be as bad as one / It's the loneliest number since the number one 1968, Harry Nilsson (lyrics and music), “One”, in Aerial Ballet
2. (number theory) The first positive number in the set of natural numbers.
3. (set theory) The cardinality of the smallest nonempty set.
4. (mathematics) The ordinality of an element which has no predecessor, usually called first or number one.

pron

1. (impersonal pronoun, indefinite) One thing (among a group of others); one member of a group.
   Any one of the boys.  The big one looks good.  I want the green one.  Every one of the bank’s employees.  A good driver is one who drives carefully.
2. (impersonal pronoun, sometimes with "the") The first mentioned of two things or people, as opposed to the other.
   She offered him an apple and an orange; he took one and left the other.
   Study gives strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it. 1699, William Temple, Heads designed for an essay on conversations
3. (indefinite personal pronoun) Any person (applying to people in general).
   One’s guilt may trouble one, but it is best not to let oneself be troubled by things which cannot be changed.  One shouldn’t be too quick to judge.
   She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace,[…]; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid,[…] — all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth, and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types as Ally Sloper, the Widow Twankey, or Miss Moucher. 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 2, in The Mirror and the Lamp
   ‘It's rather like a beautiful Inverness cloak one has inherited. Much too good to hide away, so one wears it instead of an overcoat and pretends it's an amusing new fashion.’ 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 5, in The China Governess
   One has to admire the sheer optimism of modern science: I love the fact that there is such a discipline as astrobiology, whose practitioners' task is to imagine what life might be like on other planets. Yet here on the home planet we have profoundly strange aliens of our own. 2013-09-06, Philip Hoare, “If we're all Martians, who are the aliens?”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 13, page 48
4. (pronoun) Any person, entity or thing.
   "driver", noun: one who drives.

noun

1. The digit or figure 1.
2. (mathematics) The neutral element with respect to multiplication in a ring.
3. (US) A one-dollar bill.
4. One o'clock, either a.m. or p.m.
   The ophthalmic surgeon attends Tuesdays and Saturdays, at half-past one. 17 September 1853, “Metropolitan Hospitals & Medical Schools”, in The Lancet, volume 62, number 1568, →DOI, page 268
5. (cricket) One run scored by hitting the ball and running between the wickets; a single.
6. A joke or amusing anecdote.
   Did you hear the one about the agnostic dyslexic insomniac?
7. (followed by for) A person (having some specified characteristic or attribute).
   Pause. They look meaningly at one another. / "You are a one for being roundabout," says the lady. 1905, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, Kipps: The Story of a Simple Soul, London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, page 55
8. (colloquial) A particularly special or compatible person or thing.
   I knew as soon I met him that John was the one for me and we were married within a month.
   That car's the one — I'll buy it.
   When you love a woman then tell her / that she's really wanted / When you love a woman then tell her that she's the one / 'cause she needs somebody to tell her / that it's gonna last forever 1995, Bryan Adams, Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?
9. (dated) (euphemistic or derogatory) A gay person.
   Finally got Ollie Martin. He couldn't have more poise, and what do I care if he is one? 25 March 1933, Dorothy Parker, “The Diary of a Lady”, in The New Yorker, page 13
10. (Internet slang, leetspeak, sarcastic) Used instead of ! to amplify an exclamation, parodying unskilled typists who forget to press the shift key while typing exclamation points, thus typing "1".
    A: SUM1 Hl3p ME im alwyz L0ziN!1!?1! Someone help me; I'm always losing!?
    B: y d0nt u just g0 away l0zer!!1!!one!!one!!eleven!!1! Why don't you just go away loser!
    2003 September 26, "DEAL WITH IT!!!!11one!!", in alt.games.video.nintendo.gamecube, Usenet
    2004 November 9, "AWK sound recorder!!!11!!11one", in comp.lang.awk, Usenet
    2007 December 1, "STANFORD!!1!!1!one!11!!1oneone!1!1!", in rec.sport.football.college, Usenet

adj

1. Of a period of time, being particular.
   One day the prince set forth to kill the dragon that had brought terror to his father’s kingdom for centuries.
2. Being a <a href="/dictionary/word/single">singlea>, <a href="/dictionary/word/unspecified">unspecifieda> thing; a; any.
   My aunt used to say, "One day is just like the other."
3. Sole, only.
   He is the one man who can help you.
   The one male audience member at the concert is invited on stage.
4. Whole, entire.
   Body and soul are not separate; they are one.
5. In agreement.
   We are one on the importance of learning.
6. The same.
   The two types look very different, but are one species.

det

1. Used for emphasis in place of a
   1. Being a preeminent example.
      He is one hell of a guy.
   2. Being an unknown person with the specified name; see also "a certain".
      The town records from 1843 showed the overnight incarceration of one “A. Lincoln”.

verb

1. To cause to become one; to gather into a single whole; to unite.
   The question, of course, evokes discernment, not dogma, but we should note that the "unknowing" involves intellectual knowledge, whereas the problematic of being "oned" involves experiential knowledge. 1994, Christopher Nugent, Mysticism, Death and Dying, page 55
   And both shall be oned in eternal happiness. 2000, Carolyn Baker, The Journey of Forgiveness: Fulfilling the Healing Process, page 145
   Knit and oned to God human beings are irrevocably in relationship with the divine. 2003, Elizabeth MacKinlay, Mental Health and Spirituality in Later Life, page 83
   What might be if we were Oned? United, as we would say, but at a greater depth than being a season ticket holder in a football club, or a shareholder in some conglomerate. 2019, David Grieve, Love in Thin Places: Confessions of a Cathedral Chaplain, page 43

Etymology 2

Analogous to several senses of Min Nan ê and Mandarin 的 (de, declarative particle, nominalizer, etc.). This semantic loan might have stemmed from the apparent similarity between one as a prop-word and 的 / --ê as a nominalizer (e.g. 青色的 (“the green one; green ones”)). Compare Cantonese 嘅 (ge³).

pron

1. (relative, rare) Functions as a relative pronoun at the end of a relative clause.