boon en · NOUN · etymology 1
Pronunciation
- /buːn/
- (Southern-England) audio
Etymology
From Middle English boon (“prayer”), from Old Norse bón (“prayer, petition”), from Proto-Germanic *bōniz (“supplication”), influenced by boon (“good, favorable”, adjective). Doublet of ben; see there for more.
Meanings
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A good thing; a thing to be thankful for or to appreciate duly.
Near-synonyms: gift; blessing, benefit; see also Thesaurus:gift
In the other direction, treatments that were decried in their time as paving the road to hell, including vaccination, transfusions, anesthesia, artificial insemination, organ transplants, and in-vitro fertilization, have become unexceptional boons to human well-being.
2015 August 1, Steven Pinker, “The moral imperative for bioethics”, in The Boston Globe, archived from the original on 03 Dec 2015:Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus. […] A photo processing technique called focus stacking has changed that. Developed as a tool to electronically combine the sharpest bits of multiple digital images, focus stacking is a boon to biologists seeking full focus on a micron scale.
2013 July–August, Catherine Clabby, “Focus on Everything”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 4, archived from the original on 07 Sep 2013:President Joe Biden has declared - approvingly - that a “long war” is ahead between Israel and Hamas. Washington seems to relish long wars, which always prove a boon to its arms industries and a distraction from domestic troubles.
2023 October 11, Jonathan Cook, “Israel-Palestine war: The blood of Gaza is on the West’s hands as much as Israel’s”, in Middle East Eye, archived from the original on 25 Feb 2024:Finding the dry cave was a boon to the weary travellers.
Diggle Station lies high up in the Pennine Chain, subject to extreme low temperatures. With this and heavy snowfall in the winter months, Diggle bids fair to compete with the Scottish lines under similar weather conditions, and the provision of unfrozen water in the higher ambient temperature of the tunnel must be a boon to harassed engine drivers whose thirsty steeds run short of water up the gruelling 1 in 125 seven-mile climb from Stalybridge.
1959 February 14, “Letters to the Editor: Diggle Water Troughs”, in Railway Magazine, page 135:Supporters of the measure, which Parliament is expected to vote on next Monday, present it as a boon for democracy: a modest limit on the ways in which an elected government can be stymied by unelected judges, who will in any case still have other tools to overrule ministers.
2023 July 21, Patrick Kingsley, “What’s Reasonable? A Debate Over a High Court’s Reach Divides Israel.”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 25 Jul 2023:Anaesthetics are a great boon to modern surgery.
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That which is asked or granted as a benefit or favor; a gift or benefaction.
Every good gift and every perfect boon is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning.
1881, English Revised Version, The New Testament, in the revised version of 1881, with fuller references, Oxford: Oxford University Press, published 1910, James 1:17, page 548:[T]he hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man[.]
1949, Joseph Campbell, “The Hero and the God”, in The Hero with a Thousand Faces:I gave you life. Can you not return the boon by giving me death, my lord?
1871, James De Mille, The Cryptogram, New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC, page 194, column 2:
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(obsolete) A prayer; petition.
The wofull husbandman doth lowd complaine, / To ſee his whole yeares labor loſt ſo ſoone, / For which to God he made ſo many an idle boone.
1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 34, page 503:
- (UK, dialectal) An unpaid service due by a tenant to his lord.
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(Hinduism) A blessing, typically a supernatural power, granted to an ascetic by a god or goddess.
A telling story is that of Vikra, who, after practicing severe tapas for many years, called on Śiva, asking him to grant the boon that whosoever's head he would touch, that person would die instantly.
2007, Klaus Klostermaier, A Survey of Hinduism: Third Edition, New York: State University of New York Press, page 38:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| boons | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Antonyms
Deriveds
boon and bane · boon or bane · boonless
Synonyms
concession · tithing · gift · boon · blessing · donative · grant · gift · benefit · fairing · benefaction · present
Translations (79)
bn বরকত (A blessing or benefit) · de Wohltat (a gift; a benefaction; a grant; a present) · bg молба́ (a prayer or petition) · nl verzoek (a prayer or petition) · ru дар (a gift; a benefaction; a grant; a present) · de Eingabe (a prayer or petition) · cs modlitba (a prayer or petition) · ota بخشش (a gift; a benefaction; a grant; a present) · cs požehnání (A blessing or benefit) · cs dar (a gift; a benefaction; a grant; a present) · es oración (a prayer or petition) · de Gnade (A blessing or benefit) · eo favoro (a gift; a benefaction; a grant; a present) · es maná (A blessing or benefit) · fi rukous (a prayer or petition) · tr bereket (A blessing or benefit) · nl zegen (A blessing or benefit) · sa वर (A blessing or benefit) · eo donaco (a gift; a benefaction; a grant; a present) · sa वर (a gift; a benefaction; a grant; a present) · es gran ayuda (A blessing or benefit) · mk мо́лба (a prayer or petition) · ru бла́го (A blessing or benefit) · tr lütuf (a gift; a benefaction; a grant; a present) · de Vorteil (A blessing or benefit) · es beneficio (A blessing or benefit) · de Gunst (a gift; a benefaction; a grant; a present) · ru благодея́ние (a gift; a benefaction; a grant; a present) · cs dobrodiní (a gift; a benefaction; a grant; a present) · de Gebet (a prayer or petition) · de Segen (A blessing or benefit) · nl voordeel (A blessing or benefit) · de Gefälligkeit (a gift; a benefaction; a grant; a present) · de Gesuch (a prayer or petition) · es ventaja (A blessing or benefit) · nl geschenk (a gift; a benefaction; a grant; a present) · ru благода́ть (A blessing or benefit) · de Geschenk (a gift; a benefaction; a grant; a present) · got 𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌸 (A blessing or benefit) · cs laskavost (A blessing or benefit) · de Bittgesuch (a prayer or petition) · pt bênção (A blessing or benefit) · ta வரம் (a gift; a benefaction; a grant; a present) · de Wohltat (A blessing or benefit) · fr aubaine (A blessing or benefit) · fa موهبت (A blessing or benefit) · bg благодея́ние (a gift; a benefaction; a grant; a present) · ru добро́ (A blessing or benefit) · bg дар (a gift; a benefaction; a grant; a present) · de Gunst (A blessing or benefit) · de Bitte (a prayer or petition) · fi lahja (a gift; a benefaction; a grant; a present) · bn আশীর্বাদ (A blessing or benefit) · nl gebed (a prayer or petition) · es bendición (A blessing or benefit) · es ayudar muchísimo (A blessing or benefit) · mk бла́годат (A blessing or benefit) · fa نعمت (A blessing or benefit) · de Gabe (a gift; a benefaction; a grant; a present) · bg благода́т (A blessing or benefit) · de Bittschrift (a prayer or petition) · no gode (A blessing or benefit) · es servir de mucha ayuda (A blessing or benefit) · ota هدیه (a gift; a benefaction; a grant; a present) · cs požehnání (a gift; a benefaction; a grant; a present) · tr şükran (A blessing or benefit) · sa राधस् (a gift; a benefaction; a grant; a present) · eo bono (A blessing or benefit) · ru мольба́ (a prayer or petition) · sv välsignelse (A blessing or benefit) · fr bénédiction (a gift; a benefaction; a grant; a present) · ota هبه (a gift; a benefaction; a grant; a present) · cs dobrodiní (A blessing or benefit) · bn বর (a gift; a benefaction; a grant; a present) · nl gift (a gift; a benefaction; a grant; a present) · mk дар (a gift; a benefaction; a grant; a present) · sv förmån (A blessing or benefit) · pl dobrodziejstwo (A blessing or benefit) · fi siunaus (A blessing or benefit)