Question #68265

1 Answer
Aug 23, 2017

"One" used to be pronounced how it looks. However, vowel shifts in English were (and are) common. In certain regions of 14th century England, the shift in pronunciation to "wun" began to take place.

Stressed vowels (like the "o" in "one") often turn into diphthongs (sounds created by combining vowel sounds) over time. This is seen in the Latin "bona" becoming "buona" in Italian and "buena" in Spanish.

The same occurred for the "o" sound in "one"—it gradually acquired the preceding "u" vowel sound until the word sounded more like "uon" than "one."

However, as the pronunciation shifted, its spelling did not.

Interestingly, we maintain the original pronunciation of "one" in words like "alone".

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=one&searchmode=none