once
pronunciation
How to pronounce once in British English:
UK [wʌns]
How to pronounce once in American English:
US [wʌns]
-
- Adjective:
- belonging to some prior time
-
- Adverb:
- on one occasion
- as soon as
- at a previous time
Word Origin
- once
- once: [12] Once originated as the genitive form of one (the genitive case was widely used in Old and Middle English for making adverbs out of nouns – other examples include always, needs, nowadays, and towards). To begin with, this was clearly indicated by its spelling – ones – but from about the start of the 16th century -es was gradually replaced by -ce (reflecting the fact that once retained a voiceless /s/ at its end, whereas in ones it had been voiced to /z/).=> one
- once (adv.)
- c. 1200, anes, from ane "one" (see one ) + adverbial genitive. Replaced Old English æne. Spelling changed as pronunciation shifted from two syllables to one after c. 1300. Pronunciation change to "wuns" parallels that of one. As an emphatic, meaning "once and for all," it is attested from c. 1300, but this now is regarded as a Pennsylvania German dialect formation. Meaning "in a past time" (but not necessarily just one time) is from mid-13c. Once upon a time as the beginning of a story is recorded from 1590s. At once originally (early 13c.) meant "simultaneously," later "in one company" (c. 1300), and preserved the sense of "one" in the word; the phrase typically appeared as one word, atones; the modern meaning "immediately" is attested from 1530s.
Example
- 1. Globular clusters once ruled the milky way .
- 2. Do this about once a week .
- 3. Once they lobbied hard to join nato .
- 4. I was in this exact situation once .
- 5. We cannot take back words once spoken .