A woman in Suffolk, Virginia, is curious about the origin of the word onus, as in responsibility. The word onus is borrowed directly from Latin where it means burden. This Latin word is also the root of the words onerous, which describes something burdensome, and exonerate, meaning to free from a burden. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Onus”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, this is Tamiko from Suffolk, Virginia.
Suffolk, Virginia. That’s where in Virginia?
Southeast.
The Southeast. Well, welcome to the program. How can we help?
My question is about the word onus.
I’ve heard that all my life from people, and even in a movie, Boomerang with Eddie Murphy, saying onus,
And I’ve always wondered, what does that word mean?
-huh. And how do you hear it in a sentence? What’s an example of it?
Well, I think I have a sense of it, but I guess I’m looking for origin, too.
It’s like the onus is not on me or the onus is on you to do this or something like that.
So it’s the responsibility or the burden or something like that.
O-N-U-S, onus, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
And I’m so glad you asked about it because it gives us an opportunity to talk about Latin
Because the word onus, O-N-U-S, comes directly from Latin
Where anus in Latin means a burden.
It’s like literally the burden is on you.
And it’s actually related to a couple of other words that we hear in English a lot,
One of which is onerous.
You know, if you have a job that’s onerous, it’s sort of a heavy load to carry.
It’s a burden to you.
And one more word that it’s related to in English is the word exonerate.
Isn’t that cool?
That’s interesting.
So exonerate, the ex, means to take off an owner in there, so we’re taking off the burden or removing the burden.
Exactly.
So a lot of times in law, there’s a legal expression.
What is it?
Onus probandi.
Probandi, which means the burden of proof is on whichever party.
So it’s just a very old word from Latin that we borrowed directly into English to mean burden.
Oh, wow.
Excellent.
Thank you for explaining that.
I didn’t even know there was a spell.
I didn’t even know how to spell it until you said it.
Yeah, yeah, O-N-U-S.
And it’s a weird word, isn’t it?
I mean, it almost seems like it might be an acronym for something.
Or it made up, or like it’s a children’s playword or something.
Yeah.
But no, it’s got…
Yeah, or somebody’s name, you know.
Yeah.
Tamika, thank you so much.
Thank you.
All right, take care now.
Yeah, thanks for calling.
Bye-bye.
Bye, Tamika.
Maybe there’s a word or phrase that you heard in a movie and you’re wondering about it.
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