ony

See also: -ony and -öny

English

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English ony or oony.

Determiner

ony

1. (Geordie) Alternative form of any.

Czech

Etymology

Inherited from Old Czech ony, from Proto-Slavic *ony. Cognate to Polish one.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈonɪ]

• Audio:

  (file)

Pronoun

ony m inan pl or f pl

1. they (third person personal nonvirile plural)

Declension

Declension of ony (pl-only pronoun)

	plural
nominative	ony
genitive	jich, nich1
dative	jim, nim1
accusative	je, ně1
vocative	—
locative	nich1
instrumental	jimi, nimi1, jima2, nima2

¹After a preposition.
²When referring to dual nouns, e.g. oči, ruce.

Related terms

Czech personal pronouns

		singular	plural
1st person		já	my
2nd person	familiar	ty	vy
	polite	vy
3rd person	m	on	oni1
	f	ona	ony
	n	ono	ona
reflexive		sebe, se (clitic)

¹ animate referents only, for inanimate ones ony is used.

See also

• (masculine animate plural): oni
• (neuter plural): ona

Pronoun

ony

1. inflection of onen:
   1. accusative animate masculine plural
   2. nominative/accusative inanimate masculine plural
   3. nominative/accusative feminine plural

Further reading

• “ony”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “ony”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “ony”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2026

Malagasy

Noun

ony

1. river

Middle English

Determiner

ony

1. alternative form of ani
   • 1470–1483 (date produced), Thom̃s Malleorre [i.e., Thomas Malory], “[The Tale of King Arthur]”, in Le Morte Darthur (British Library Additional Manuscript 59678), [England: s.n.], folio 35, recto, lines 10–11:

     Now is þ[er] ony ſeyde Marlyon that ye love more than a noþ[er] ·

     “Now, is there any”, said Merlin, “that ye love more than another?”

Old Czech

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *ony.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (13^th CE) /ˈonɨ/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /ˈoni/

Pronoun

ony f pl (third person)

1. they (feminine plural)
2. (later) they (masculine inanimate plural)

Declension

Old Czech personal pronouns

Singular	1st person	2nd person	3rd person			Reflexive
			m	f	n
Nominative	já(z)	ty	on	ona	ono	—
Genitive	mne, mě	tebe, tě	j(e)ho, ň(e)ho	jie, nie	j(e)ho, ň(e)ho	sebe, sě
Dative	mně, mi	tobě, ti	j(e)mu, ňemu	jí, ní, jiej, niej	j(e)mu, ňemu	sobě, si
Accusative	mě, mne	tě, tebe	jej, jen, ji, j(e)ho, -ň, ňej, ňen, ni, ň(e)ho	ju, ňu	je, ňe	sě, sebe
Locative	mně	tobě	ňem	ní, niej	ňem	sobě
Instrumental	mnú	tobú, tebú	jím, ním	jú, ňú	jím, ním	sobú, sebú
Possessive	mój	tvój	jeho	(je)jie	jeho	svój
Dual	1st person	2nd person	3rd person			Reflexive
			m	f	n
Nominative	vě, va (ma)	vy	ona	oně		—
Genitive	najú	vajú	jú, ňú			sebe, sě
Dative	náma	váma	jima, nima			sobě, si
Accusative	ny, najú	vy, vajú	jě, ně	ji, ni		sě, sebe
Locative	najú	vajú	ňú			sobě
Instrumental	náma	váma	jima, nima			sobú, sebú
Possessive	náš, najú	váš, vajú	(je)jú			svój
Plural	1st person	2nd person	3rd person			Reflexive
			m	f	n
Nominative	my	vy	oni	ony	ona	—
Genitive	nás	vás	jich, nich			sebe, sě
Dative	nám, nem	vám, vem	jim, nim			sobě, si
Accusative	ny, nás	vy, vás	jě, ně			sě, sebe
Locative	nás	vás	nich			sobě
Instrumental	námi	vámi	jimi, nimi			sobú, sebú
Possessive	náš	váš	(je)jich			svój

Descendants

• Czech: ony

Pronoun

ony

1. nominative/accusative feminine plural of onen

Polish

Etymology

Coined by science fiction and fantasy writer Jacek Dukaj in 2004, in his book titled Perfect Imperfection.. Comparable to Polish oni.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɔ.nɘ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔnɘ
• Syllabification: o‧ny

Pronoun

ony (singular: onu)

1. they (nonstandard, third-person plural nominative, non-binary pronoun)

Declension

Declension of ony

	plural
nominative	ony
genitive	ich/nich
dative	im
accusative	ni
instrumental	nimi
locative	nich
vocative	—

Related terms

• on
• ona
• one
• oni
• ono
• Appendix:Polish pronouns

Further reading

• “ony”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[1] (in Polish)
• ony in zaimki.pl

Scots

Adverb

ony (not comparable)

1. alternative form of onie

Determiner

ony

1. alternative form of onie

References

• “ony”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.

Slovak

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔni/, [ˈɔni]
• Rhymes: -ɔni
• Hyphenation: o‧ny

Pronoun

ony

1. masculine/feminine/neuter nominative plural of on (“they”)

Declension

Declension of ony

	plurale tantum
nominative	ony
genitive	ich / nich
dative	im / nim
accusative	ich / ne
locative	nich
instrumental	nimi

Related terms

Slovak personal pronouns

		substantive		possessive
		singular	plural	singular	plural
1st person		ja	my	môj	náš
2nd person	familiar	ty	vy	tvoj	váš
	polite	vy		váš
3rd person	m	on	oni* / ony	jeho	ich
	f	ona		jej
	n	ono		jeho
reflexive		seba, sa (clitic)		svoj

* masculine animate only, ony otherwise

Further reading

• “ony”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2026