Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
green onion

green onion

12 1.1
A young onion with a long green stalk and mild taste eaten raw in salads
  • noun
  • /ɡriːn ˈʌn.jən/
  • US
translation icon : cebolla de verdeo
  • Chunky zucchini, fresh green onion, sour cream, and shredded Cheddar cheese are sure to make this your favorite chili recipe.
  • chopped green onions
  • sliced green onions
  • garnish with green onions

We've got some carrots, beets and looks like some green onions.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • In a salad bowl, combine spinach, water chestnuts, green onions, mushrooms, and cucumber slices.

  • For this recipe, you're going to need a whole pineapple, frozen shrimp, white rice, minced garlic, soy sauce, green onions, and carrots.

  • Yeah, I mean, usually when we have this, you can have like some green onion, some cheese.

  • Usually, I would also have green onions around for salsa.

    Blog text (4)

  • His father was chopping green onions.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • One cup of chopped green onion.

    Blog text (9)

  • Heat the remaining oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat and add the green onions and chili.

    Blog text (17)

  • Add the herbs, olives, almonds, green onions, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt, and stir to combine.

    Blog text (17)

  • Grilled pork combined with lemon juice, green onions, chili, mint sprigs, fish sauce, and toasted rice.

    Blog text (10)

  • Add chicken bouillon, garlic salt, green onion, and a little salt and pepper to the sauce.

Synonyms

scallion
vsgreen onion
  • US
18 2.3

A long thin young onion with a small white base and green leaves used in cooking for its mild taste

is the same young form but focuses on milder taste and garnish use
spring onion
vsgreen onion
  • UK
1 2.1

A young onion with a small bulb and long green stalks used raw or cooked

is harvested even earlier and mainly eaten raw as a garnish
Welsh onion
vsgreen onion
3.1

A plant with long green stems and small white bulbs used in cooking for a mild onion taste

is the general young form harvested before bulb maturity rather than a species

How Mature

green onion
  • US
12 1.1

Surface Forms

green onion singular
green onions plural

Morphology

green + onion

This is a straightforward adjective + noun composition: 'green' modifies 'onion' to indicate an onion that is green or young, so the overall meaning is directly derivable from the parts. Such descriptive compounds are cross-linguistically common and follow regular English noun modification patterns, making the phrase immediately understandable to a B1 learner who knows both words.

Etymology

Green onion comes from the simple picture of a young onion that still has long green leaves that cooks use in food. So, it means 'a young onion with a mild taste that is eaten raw or used as a garnish'.