See Also:

oon (iou)



-oon suffix. [u:n]
[Repr. French -on = Italian -one, Spanish -on, from Latin -o(n-).]
In nouns from Romance languages, esp. French, adopted between the 16th and 18th cents., usu. equivalent to French words stressed on final -on, as balloon, dragoon, festoon, platoon, saloon, etc., less commonly from Spanish, as barracoon, quadroon, etc., and Italian, as cartoon. Occas. in English formations as spittoon, tenoroon, etc.
? Older and modern borrowings, and those from unstressed -on, take -on, as baron, felon, etc.