Onus

 WORD OF THE DAY

onus / noun / OH-nuss

Definition
1a: burden
1b: a disagreeable necessity
1c: obligation
1d: blame
1e: stigma
2: burden of proof

Examples
“So many of us are solopreneurs, which means we make all of the decisions and the onus is on us to actually follow through on our plans.”
— Susan Guillory, Forbes, 18 Aug. 2022

It is not the scions of Yale and Harvard who apply to become FBI agents and construction workers and civil servants and cops who bear the onus of this reverse discrimination.
— Thomas B. Edsall, Washington Post, 9-15 Mar. 1992

Did You Know?
Understanding the etymology of onus shouldn’t be a burden; it’s as simple as knowing that English borrowed the word—spelling, meaning, and all—from Latin in the 17th century.
Onus is also a distant relative of the Sanskrit word anas, meaning cart (as in, a wheeled wagon or vehicle that carries a burden).
English isn’t exactly loaded with words that come from Latin onus, but onerous (“difficult and unpleasant to do or deal with”) is one, which is fitting since in addition to being synonymous with “burden,” onus has also long been used to refer to obligations and responsibilities that one may find annoying, taxing, disagreeable, or distasteful.