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• Bon
  Bon

  noun

  Cape, a cape on the NE coast of Tunisia: surrender of the German African forces, May 12, 1943.
• Bön
  Bön

  noun

  a shamanistic Tibetan sect, absorbed by the first Buddhist sects of the 7th century and later.

Bon

¹ American  

[bon, bawn] / bɒn, bɔ̃ /

noun

1. Cape, a cape on the NE coast of Tunisia: surrender of the German African forces, May 12, 1943.

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Bon ² American  

[bawn] / bɔn /

noun

1. an annual festival of the Japanese Buddhists, welcoming ancestral spirits to household altars.

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Bön ³ American  

[bohn] / boʊn /

noun

1. a shamanistic Tibetan sect, absorbed by the first Buddhist sects of the 7th century and later.

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Bon ¹ British  

/ bɔːn /

noun

1. Also called: Feast of Lanterns, Festival of Lanterns. an annual festival celebrated by Japanese Buddhists

2. 1. the pre-Buddhist priests of Tibet or one such priest

   2. their religion

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Bon ² British  

/ bɒn /

noun

1. a peninsula of NE Tunisia

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Etymology

Origin of Bon

< Japanese, originally Urabon < Chinese version of Sanskrit ullambana literally, hanging upside down (a metaphor for the suffering brought on by physical desires)

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Bon Bön

In a caption on Instagram, the venue said the star had broken "his ankle on Tuesday... but still supported Bon Jovi on Wednesday".

From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026

Singer Jon Bon Jovi has been reported to be visibly emotional on stage after recovering from throat surgery, which threatened his career in 2022.

From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026

He learned about the importance of balance while working with Frank Guidara, the former CEO of Au Bon Pain and father of celebrated restaurateur Will Guidara, former co-owner of Manhattan’s Michelin-starred Eleven Madison Park.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

Mount Kailash is also sacred to Buddhists, Jains and followers of Bon, a pre-Buddhist religion.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026

There were also three magic spindles, made out of the Eden tree, and two inferior swords for Percy and Bon.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White

Although it hardly comes within the scope of the present study, I may mention that there is also some non-Buddhist literature in Tibet, sometimes described as scriptures of the Bön religion and sometimes as folklore.

From Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 3 by Sir Charles Eliot

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