unu (Romanian)
Where does "unu" come from?
The Romanian word 'unu' traces its roots back to the Proto-Indo-European *h₁óynos, meaning 'one' or 'single.' It descended through Proto-Italic and Latin as 'ūnus' before evolving into its current form in Romanian. Interestingly, while the related word 'un' lost its final vowel to become an indefinite article, 'unu' kept it specifically to serve as the number one.
Full etymology tree
- unu (Romanian), 'one'
- inherited ūnus (Latin), 'one, single'
- inherited oinos (Latin), 'one'
- inherited *oinos (Proto-Italic), 'one'
- inherited *h₁óynos (Proto-Indo-European), 'one'
- inherited *oinos (Proto-Italic), 'one'
- inherited oinos (Latin), 'one'
- inherited ūnus (Latin), 'one, single'
Ancestors
- unus (Latin)
- *oinos (Proto-Italic)
- *h₁óynos (Proto-Indo-European)
Updated July 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris