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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

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

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

"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

Vincenzo Italiano's players held their nerve better in the shoot-out, with Alessandro Bastoni, Nicolo Barella and Ange-Yoan Bonny all failing from the spot for Inter.

From Barron's ● Dec. 19, 2025

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

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

One year ago no happier, bonnier, brighter face could have been seen at the Point than that of Nannie McKay.

From Starlight Ranch and Other Stories of Army Life on the Frontier by Charles King

We had three with us, and bonnier lads and braver I don’t wish to see.

From Russian Life To-day by Right Rev. Herbert Bury

"Two bonnier babes," said the grey old midwife, bending thoughtfully over them, "I never before assisted into the world."

From Drolls From Shadowland by J. H. (Joseph Henry) Pearce

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

Miss Isabel was here then, and she and Miss Robina took great pains to get me the best and the bonniest.

From Frederica and her Guardians The Perils of Orphanhood by Margaret M. (Margaret Murray) Robertson

Also it looks its bonniest in the early morning when the dew is on all sides, and a stillness like the peace of God lies on the place.

From The Men of the Moss-Hags Being a history of adventure taken from the papers of William Gordon of Earlstoun in Galloway by S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett

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

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