bona fide

See also: bonafide and bonâ fide

English

WOTD – 20 April 2007

Alternative forms

• bonâ fide

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌbəʊ.nəˈfaɪ.di/
• IPA^(key): /ˈboʊnə.faɪd/, /ˌboʊnəˈfaɪdi/, /ˈbɑnə.faɪd/, /ˈboʊnəˌfiːdeɪ/

• Audio (US):

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  Audio (US):

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• Audio (US):

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• Audio (AU):

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Usage notes

The pronunciation /ˈboʊnə.faɪd/, is the most common one in the USA and therefore listed first in American dictionaries, incl. American Heritage, Merriam-Webster, Webster's Third New International Dictionary, and the American version of Collins.

Etymology

From the Latin bonā fidē (“in good faith”), the ablative case of bona fidēs (“good faith”).

Adjective

bona fide (not comparable)

1. In good faith; sincere; without deception or ulterior motive.

   Synonym: sincere

   Antonym: mala fide

   Although he failed, the prime minister made a bona fide attempt to repair the nation's damaged economy.

2. Genuine; not counterfeit.

   Synonyms: authentic, genuine

   Antonyms: bogus, counterfeit

   This is a bona fide Roman coin.

   • 2000, O Brother Where Art Thou? (movie):

     Ulysses Everett McGill: I am the only daddy you got! I’m the damn pater familias!

     Wharvey Gal: But you ain’t bona fide!

Usage notes

Sometimes misspelled as *bonafied, by incorrectly analyzing as the past tense of assumed *bonafy.

Translations

done in good faith

• Arabic: عن حسن نيَة
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 善意 (zh) (shànyì)

• Czech: bona fide, v dobrém úmyslu
• Dutch: oprecht (nl)
• Finnish: vilpitön (fi)
• French: de bonne foi (fr)
• German: auf Treu und Glauben
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Icelandic: gerður í góðri trú
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 善意の (ja) (ぜんいの, zen'i-no)
• Portuguese: em boa fé
• Russian: добросо́вестный (ru) (dobrosóvestnyj)
• Slovak: dobre myslený
• Spanish: de buena fe
• Turkish: iyi niyetle, samimiyetle (tr)

genuine

• Czech: pravý (cs)
• Dutch: echt (nl)
• Finnish: aito (fi)
• French: véritable (fr), authentique (fr)
• Icelandic: ósvikinn
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 本物の (ja) (ほんものの, honmo-no) , ^{(please verify)} 真実の (ja) (しんじつの, shinjitsu-no)
• Norwegian: ekte (no), autentisk
• Polish: prawdziwy (pl)
• Portuguese: genuíno (pt)
• Russian: настоя́щий (ru) (nastojáščij)
• Slovak: pravý
• Spanish: auténtico (es)
• Swedish: äkta (sv)

See also

• bona fides
• mala fide

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Czech

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin bona fide (“in good faith”), which is an ablative of bona fides (“good faith”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbona ˈfɪdɛ]

Phrase

1. bona fide (in good faith)

Further reading

• Template:R:PSJC
• Template:R:SSJC