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.
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pleasing; agreeable; good.
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adverb
noun
bonny
1
British
/ ˈbɒnɪ /
adjective
-
dialect beautiful or handsome
a bonny lass
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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:
A bonny place, in the local argot, it’s also the birthplace of Donald Trump’s mother, Mary Anne MacLeod.
From New York Times ● Oct. 16, 2018
“It’s bonny, happy, chirpy, fun,” director Richmond says of the score, noting that it’s hardly what audiences will expect the witches to sing.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 5, 2018
Basically, Claire pulls the 18th century equivalent of a #yesallwomen campaign, and celebrates her victory by standing on a buttress and smiling vacantly at some wee bonny children.
From Time ● Aug. 16, 2014
"You're a bonny fellow to frighten children so," one of the regulars admonished him as he finished the tale.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2014
Still, it was a June day to be blithe and bonny in.
From "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary D. Schmidt
“He saw it as, ‘This little girl can’t be raised by Bonny Lee Bakley.’”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
Although fictional, the game stars real characters such as the infamous English pirate Blackbeard, and other pirates including Mary Read and Anne Bonny.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 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
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
Marion Macrae was a bonnie bride, and she is far bonnier and better now than she was then—the best of mothers, the best of wives, a noble woman every way.
From Playing With Fire by Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr
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
"O, sic a geek she gave her head, And sic a toss she gave her feather; Man, saw ye ne'er a bonnier lass Before, among the blooming heather?"
From The Redskins; or, Indian and Injin, Volume 1. Being the Conclusion of the Littlepage Manuscripts by James Fenimore Cooper
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
Monie a lord and gay ladie Sat dining in the ha',60 But the bonniest face that was there, Was waiting on them a'.
From English and Scottish Ballads (volume 3 of 8) by Various
When Fyvie looked the letter on,95 He was baith sad and sorry: Says—"The bonniest lass o' the country-side Has died for Andrew Lammie."
From English and Scottish Ballads, Volume II (of 8) by Various
Oh, the bonniest lads in kilt and hose— Braver men, you cannot find them— And few, so few, came marching home To the loved ones left behind them.
From The Cornflower, and Other Poems by Jean Blewett
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
