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• bonny
  bonny

  adjective

  pleasing to the eye; handsome; pretty.
• Bonny
  Bonny

  noun

  a wide bay at the E end of the Gulf of Guinea off the coasts of Nigeria and Cameroon

bonny

American  

[bon-ee] / ˈbɒn i /

Or bonnie

adjective

bonnier, bonniest

1. Chiefly Scot. pleasing to the eye; handsome; pretty.

2. British Dialect.

   1. (of people) healthy, sweet, and lively.

   2. (of places) placid; tranquil.

   3. pleasing; agreeable; good.

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adverb

1. British Dialect. pleasingly; agreeably; very well.

noun

1. Scot. and North England Archaic. a pretty girl or young woman.

bonny ¹ British  

/ ˈbɒnɪ /

adjective

1. dialect beautiful or handsome

   a bonny lass

2. merry or lively

   a bonny family

3. good or fine

   a bonny house

4. (esp of babies) plump

5. dialect considerable; to be reckoned with

   cost a bonny penny

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adverb

1. informal agreeably or well

   to speak bonny

Bonny ² British  

/ ˈbɒnɪ /

noun

1. Former name (until 1975): Bight of Biafra. a wide bay at the E end of the Gulf of Guinea off the coasts of Nigeria and Cameroon

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Other Word Forms

• bonniness
  noun
• bonnily
  adverb

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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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bonny Bonny bonnier bonniest

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

The TV star wrote on Instagram he had had a "bit of a prang" but insisted things were "all nice and bonny".

From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2020

Tara Erraught is a bonny Irish lass who is almost aggressively likable.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 10, 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

Still, it was a June day to be blithe and bonny in.

From "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary D. Schmidt

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

Federico Dimarco, Ange-Yoan Bonny and Henrikh Mkhitaryan rounded off the scoring in the final 10 minutes to secure Inter's ninth win in a 10-match unbeaten run in the league.

From Barron's ● Jan. 23, 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

Lee Calvert stands in the living room of her daughter’s home in Bonny Doon, Calif., in May 27.

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

Her cheeks bloom bonnier than the heather on Tollishill, and her bosom seems saft as the new-shorn fleece.

From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume I Historical, Traditionary, and Imaginative by Various

Cloud shadows were racing each other across the pastures as I lay back and watched them, and I thought the view had never been bonnier.

From Windyridge by W. Riley

A Highlander, in speaking favourably of his wife, is reported to have misquoted this, and characterized her as being "bonnier than she was better."

From The Proverbs of Scotland by Alexander Hislop

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

There is no stone to mark where he lies, but I know the spot, and I always think the gowan blinks bonniest and the grass grows greenest there.

From Aileen Aroon, A Memoir With other Tales of Faithful Friends and Favourites by Gordon Stables

In ‘Young Peggy Blooms’ he describes her: Young Peggy blooms our bonniest lass, Her blush is like the morning, The rosy dawn, the springing grass With early gems adorning.

From The Real Robert Burns by J. L. Hughes

Mary's the bonniest lass on this side o' the Tweed, and beauty's nae waur o' being weel buskit.

From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Vol. 9 by Various

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