Dictionary

bonny en · ADJ · etymology 1

Etymology

From Middle English *boni (attested only rarely as bon, boun), probably from Old French bon, feminine bonne (“good”), from Latin bonus (“good”). See bounty, and compare bonus, boon.

Meanings

1. (Geordie, alt-of, alternative) Alternative spelling of bonnie (“attractive”).
   alt of bonnie
   • “ A good heart will help you to a bonny face, my lad,” 1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], chapter VII, in Wuthering Heights: […], volume I, London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC, page 125:
   • Meg Speedwell was her name. He had seen her walking across a field, not many months after the interment of his second Duchess, Maria, that great and gifted lady. I know not whether it was that her bonny mien fanned in him some embers of his youth, or that he was loth to be outdone in gracious eccentricity by his crony the Duke of Dewlap, who himself had just taken a bride from a dairy. 1911 October 26, Max Beerbohm, Zuleika Dobson, or, An Oxford Love Story, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: John Lane Company, published 1912, →OCLC:
   • “[…]report speaks you a bonny monk, that would hear the mattin chime ere he quitted his bowl[…]” 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 96:

Forms

Deriveds

unbonny · bonnily · bonniness

bonny en · NOUN · etymology 2

Etymology

Clipping of bonfire.

Meanings

1. (Northern-Ireland, alt-of, alternative, informal) Alternative spelling of bonnie (“bonfire”).
   alt of bonnie

Forms