onion

Onion comes from Middle English onyoun or oynoun, from Old French oignon, from Latin ūniōnem, the accusative form of ūniō, meaning onion. The same Latin word had also been borrowed separately into Old English as yne or ynnelēac.

English actually had two rival words for the vegetable: the Old English yne/ynnelēac line (which became Middle English hynne-leac or henne-leac) and the French-derived onyoun. The French-derived form won out, displacing not only its Old English rival but also the older native word ramsons.

In online slang, a 4chan word filter swapped 'soy' for 'onions,' tied to the 'alpha onion eater' meme framed as the opposite of the 'soy boy' — a modern, unrelated offshoot of the word's use rather than a true etymological cousin.