bonhomme

See also: Bonhomme and bouonhoumme

French

Etymology

Univerbation of bon (“good”) +‎ homme (“man”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bo.nɔm/, /bɔ.nɔm/

• Audio:

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (France (Lyon)):

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Noun

bonhomme m (plural bonshommes or bonhommes, feminine bonne femme)

1. fellow, chap
2. a basic figure meant to represent a person (e.g. a stick figure, a symbol on a sign, etc.)
3. (Louisiana, Missouri) scarecrow

Usage notes

• Not to be confused with homme bon or homme de bien.

Derived terms

• aller son petit bonhomme de chemin
• bonhomie
• bonhomme allumette
• bonhomme bâton
• bonhomme de neige
• (Quebec) bonhomme sept-heures
• faux bonhomme
• nom d'un petit bonhomme
• בונעם (bunem) (Yiddish)

Further reading

• “bonhomme”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012
• Weinreich, M. (1956). The Jewish Languages of Romance Stock and Their Relation to Earliest Yiddish in Romance Philology, 9(4), pp.414. Brepols: University of California Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44938790. Accessed 29th October 2024.