bonny
adjective
pleasing to the eye; handsome; pretty.
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bonny
American
[bon-ee]
/ ˈbɒn i /
Or
bonnie
adjective
bonnier,
bonniest
-
Chiefly Scot. pleasing to the eye; handsome; pretty.
-
British Dialect.
-
(of people) healthy, sweet, and lively.
-
(of places) placid; tranquil.
-
pleasing; agreeable; good.
-
adverb
noun
bonny
1
British
/ ˈbɒnɪ /
adjective
-
dialect beautiful or handsome
a bonny lass
-
merry or lively
a bonny family
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good or fine
a bonny house
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(esp of babies) plump
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dialect considerable; to be reckoned with
cost a bonny penny
adverb
Bonny
2
British
/ ˈbɒnɪ /
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of bonny
1425–75; late Middle English ( Scots ) bonie, perhaps < Old French bon good + -ie -y 1, perhaps by analogy with jolie jolly
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
They added: "A sad loss at such a young age. RIP Dale. Sleep well bonny lad."
From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2023
And Coach Kliff Kingsbury, the bonny prince plucked from Texas Tech in 2019, was scheduled to receive his comeuppance by now.
From New York Times ● Oct. 6, 2021
Coming behind, Fleetwood would take that par right now, as he lashes a long iron into the bonny heather well to the right of the green.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 19, 2019
Tara Erraught is a bonny Irish lass who is almost aggressively likable.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 10, 2018
“Not at all—it bears the most gracious message in the world: for the rest, you are not my conscience-keeper, so don’t make yourself uneasy. Here, come in, bonny wanderer!”
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
“He saw it as, ‘This little girl can’t be raised by Bonny Lee Bakley.’”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
In light of the administration’s security strategy, the sale shows “its actions are aligning with its words,” said Bonny Lin, director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 19, 2025
It was no surprise when Inter levelled after 54 minutes, with Bonny teeing up Zielinski to sweep home.
From Barron's ● Nov. 26, 2025
Calvert walks with her daughter, Nancy Lingemann, on Lingemann’s property in Bonny Doon.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2025
A band began playing “That Bonny Blue Flag,” in Lee’s honor.
From "The Killer Angels: The Classic Novel of the Civil War" by Michael Shaara
While some of his ban mots may have grown bonnier in telling, and others may be wholly apocryphal, who can say for sure?
From Time Magazine Archive
“Not a bit, and you never will. You’ve grown bigger and bonnier, but you are the same scapegrace as ever.”
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
No a bonnier or better pair between this and Johnny Groat's, and just a real bargain as to price.'
From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 8 by Various
But cheer up, my dear! ye’re bonnier than what he said.
From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 11 (of 25) by Robert Louis Stevenson
No a better nor a bonnier in a' the parish.
From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 7 by Various
The prams of Britain are filled with the bonniest babies in living memory.
From Time Magazine Archive
So he suggested a cat instead, “the bonniest little cat ye ever did see.”
From "The Old Willis Place" by Mary Downing Hahn
I wonder now if I have really got the best and the bonniest.
From Christine A Fife Fisher Girl by Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr
He was not, as Mr. Taylor would have put it, looking his "brightest and bonniest."
From The Setons by O. Douglas
Observe the description of the youth: His cheeks were like the roses red, His neck was like the snaw; He was the bonniest gentleman My eyes they ever saw.
From The Romantic Scottish Ballads: Their Epoch and Authorship by Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers
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