oweness

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₃enh₂- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *h₃énh₂os Proto-Italic *onos Latin onuslbor. English onus Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyḱ- Proto-Indo-European *h₂eh₂óyḱe Proto-Germanic *aiganą Proto-West Germanic *aigan Old English āgan Middle English owen English owe Proto-Germanic *-ōną Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English oweness An eggcorn of onus, as owe (“to be under obligation”, verb) + -ness (abstract-noun suffix), interpretable as "the state of being under obligation." The eggcorn may have been produced due to the frequency of the collocation "the onus [is/was] on [someone] to," whereas onus is very rarely used in popular speech without this collocation.

来源：wiktionary