diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 67de538932be1..2406a3ece88d0 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ New library functions
 * The `tempname` function now takes an optional `parent::AbstractString` argument to give it a directory in which to attempt to produce a temporary path name ([#33090]).
 * The `tempname` function now takes a `cleanup::Bool` keyword argument defaulting to `true`, which causes the process to try to ensure that any file or directory at the path returned by `tempname` is deleted upon process exit ([#33090]).
 * The `readdir` function now takes a `join::Bool` keyword argument defaulting to `false`, which when set causes `readdir` to join its directory argument with each listed name ([#33113]).
+* The new `only(x)` function returns the one-and-only element of a collection `x`, and throws an `ArgumentError` if `x` contains zero or multiple elements. ([#33129])
+
 
 Standard library changes
 ------------------------
diff --git a/base/Base.jl b/base/Base.jl
index f64c061f9e9fb..9a19e02672a17 100644
--- a/base/Base.jl
+++ b/base/Base.jl
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ include("ntuple.jl")
 include("abstractdict.jl")
 
 include("iterators.jl")
-using .Iterators: zip, enumerate
+using .Iterators: zip, enumerate, only
 using .Iterators: Flatten, Filter, product  # for generators
 
 include("namedtuple.jl")
diff --git a/base/exports.jl b/base/exports.jl
index ebd746392558a..49063720c14c4 100644
--- a/base/exports.jl
+++ b/base/exports.jl
@@ -628,6 +628,7 @@ export
 
     enumerate,  # re-exported from Iterators
     zip,
+    only,
 
 # object identity and equality
     copy,
diff --git a/base/iterators.jl b/base/iterators.jl
index bebe8ac1701f1..829f0497c30f0 100644
--- a/base/iterators.jl
+++ b/base/iterators.jl
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ using .Base:
     @inline, Pair, AbstractDict, IndexLinear, IndexCartesian, IndexStyle, AbstractVector, Vector,
     tail, tuple_type_head, tuple_type_tail, tuple_type_cons, SizeUnknown, HasLength, HasShape,
     IsInfinite, EltypeUnknown, HasEltype, OneTo, @propagate_inbounds, Generator, AbstractRange,
-    LinearIndices, (:), |, +, -, !==, !, <=, <, missing, map, any
+    LinearIndices, (:), |, +, -, !==, !, <=, <, missing, map, any, @boundscheck, @inbounds
 
 import .Base:
     first, last,
@@ -929,7 +929,6 @@ julia> collect(Iterators.partition([1,2,3,4,5], 2))
 """
 partition(c::T, n::Integer) where {T} = PartitionIterator{T}(c, Int(n))
 
-
 struct PartitionIterator{T}
     c::T
     n::Int
@@ -1095,4 +1094,41 @@ eltype(::Type{Stateful{T, VS}} where VS) where {T} = eltype(T)
 IteratorEltype(::Type{Stateful{T,VS}}) where {T,VS} = IteratorEltype(T)
 length(s::Stateful) = length(s.itr) - s.taken
 
+"""
+    only(x)
+
+Returns the one and only element of collection `x`, and throws an `ArgumentError` if the
+collection has zero or multiple elements.
+
+See also: [`first`](@ref), [`last`](@ref).
+
+!!! compat "Julia 1.4"
+    This method requires at least Julia 1.4.
+"""
+@propagate_inbounds function only(x)
+    i = iterate(x)
+    @boundscheck if i === nothing
+        throw(ArgumentError("Collection is empty, must contain exactly 1 element"))
+    end
+    (ret, state) = i
+    @boundscheck if iterate(x, state) !== nothing
+        throw(ArgumentError("Collection has multiple elements, must contain exactly 1 element"))
+    end
+    return ret
+end
+
+# Collections of known size
+only(x::Ref) = x[]
+only(x::Number) = x
+only(x::Char) = x
+only(x::Tuple{Any}) = x[1]
+only(x::Tuple) = throw(
+    ArgumentError("Tuple contains $(length(x)) elements, must contain exactly 1 element")
+)
+only(a::AbstractArray{<:Any, 0}) = @inbounds return a[]
+only(x::NamedTuple{<:Any, <:Tuple{Any}}) = first(x)
+only(x::NamedTuple) = throw(
+    ArgumentError("NamedTuple contains $(length(x)) elements, must contain exactly 1 element")
+)
+
 end
diff --git a/doc/src/base/iterators.md b/doc/src/base/iterators.md
index 7f89b792117cc..0b63561ebdc32 100644
--- a/doc/src/base/iterators.md
+++ b/doc/src/base/iterators.md
@@ -15,4 +15,5 @@ Base.Iterators.flatten
 Base.Iterators.partition
 Base.Iterators.filter
 Base.Iterators.reverse
+Base.Iterators.only
 ```
diff --git a/test/iterators.jl b/test/iterators.jl
index 352a0ec8404d6..eabe5e0905b98 100644
--- a/test/iterators.jl
+++ b/test/iterators.jl
@@ -183,7 +183,6 @@ end
 @test Base.IteratorEltype(repeated(0, 5)) == Base.HasEltype()
 @test Base.IteratorSize(zip(repeated(0), repeated(0))) == Base.IsInfinite()
 
-
 # product
 # -------
 
@@ -411,7 +410,6 @@ for n in [5,6]
           [(1,1),(2,2),(3,3),(4,4),(5,5)]
 end
 
-
 @test join(map(x->string(x...), partition("Hello World!", 5)), "|") ==
       "Hello| Worl|d!"
 
@@ -647,3 +645,36 @@ end
     @test length(collect(d)) == 2
     @test length(collect(d)) == 0
 end
+
+@testset "only" begin
+    @test only([3]) === 3
+    @test_throws ArgumentError only([])
+    @test_throws ArgumentError only([3, 2])
+
+    @test @inferred(only((3,))) === 3
+    @test_throws ArgumentError only(())
+    @test_throws ArgumentError only((3, 2))
+
+    @test only(Dict(1=>3)) === (1=>3)
+    @test_throws ArgumentError only(Dict{Int,Int}())
+    @test_throws ArgumentError only(Dict(1=>3, 2=>2))
+
+    @test only(Set([3])) === 3
+    @test_throws ArgumentError only(Set(Int[]))
+    @test_throws ArgumentError only(Set([3,2]))
+
+    @test @inferred(only((;a=1))) === 1
+    @test_throws ArgumentError only(NamedTuple())
+    @test_throws ArgumentError only((a=3, b=2.0))
+
+    @test @inferred(only(1)) === 1
+    @test @inferred(only('a')) === 'a'
+    @test @inferred(only(Ref([1, 2]))) == [1, 2]
+    @test_throws ArgumentError only(Pair(10, 20))
+
+    @test only(1 for ii in 1:1) === 1
+    @test only(1 for ii in 1:10 if ii < 2) === 1
+    @test_throws ArgumentError only(1 for ii in 1:10)
+    @test_throws ArgumentError only(1 for ii in 1:10 if ii > 2)
+    @test_throws ArgumentError only(1 for ii in 1:10 if ii > 200)
+end