boon

See also: bon, Boon, and bo-on

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /buːn/
• Hyphenation: boon
• Rhymes: -uːn

Etymology 1

From Middle English boon (“prayer”), from Old Norse bón (“prayer, petition”), from Proto-Germanic *bōniz (“supplication”), influenced by boon (“good, favorable”, adj). Doublet of ben; see there for more.

Noun

boon (plural boons)

1. (obsolete) A prayer; petition.
   • (Can we find and add a quotation of Edmund Spenser to this entry?):

     For which to God he made so many an idle boon […]

2. (archaic) That which is asked or granted as a benefit or favor; a gift or benefaction.
   • 1881, The Bible (English Revised Version), James 1:17:

     Every good gift and every perfect boon is from above […]

   • 1872, James De Mille, The Cryptogram:^[1]

     I gave you life. Can you not return the boon by giving me death, my lord?

3. A good thing; a blessing or benefit; a thing to be thankful for.
   • 2013 July-August, Catherine Clabby, “Focus on Everything”, in American Scientist:

     Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus. […] A photo processing technique called focus stacking has changed that. Developed as a tool to electronically combine the sharpest bits of multiple digital images, focus stacking is a boon to biologists seeking full focus on a micron scale.

   Finding the dry cave was a boon to the weary travellers.

   Anaesthetics are a great boon to modern surgery.

4. (Britain dialectal) An unpaid service due by a tenant to his lord.

Synonyms

• (a thing received) See gift and favor
• (a good thing) blessing; benefit

Antonyms

• bane

Translations

A blessing or benefit

• Bulgarian: благода́т (bg) f (blagodát)
• Czech: požehnání n, dobrodiní n, laskavost (cs) f
• Dutch: zegen (nl), voordeel (nl)
• French: aubaine (fr) f
• German: Segen (de) m
• Persian: نعمت‎ (fa) (ne'mat), موهبت‎ (fa) (movhebat)

• Portuguese: bênção (pt) f
• Russian: бла́го (ru) n (blágo), благода́ть (ru) f (blagodátʹ), добро́ (ru) n (dobró)
• Spanish: bendición (es) f, ventaja (es) f
• Swedish: välsignelse (sv), förmån (sv)
• Turkish: bereket (tr), şükran (tr)

a gift; a benefaction; a grant; a present

• Bulgarian: дар (bg) m (dar), благодея́ние (bg) n (blagodejánie)
• Czech: dar (cs) m, požehnání n, dobrodiní n
• Dutch: gift (nl), geschenk (nl)

• Russian: дар (ru) m (dar), благодея́ние (ru) n (blagodejánije)
• Turkish: lütuf (tr)

a prayer or petition

• Bulgarian: молба́ (bg) f (molbá)
• Czech: modlitba (cs) f
• Dutch: gebed (nl), verzoek (nl)

• Russian: мольба́ (ru) f (molʹbá)
• Spanish: oración (es) f

See also

• boon and bane
• boon or bane

Etymology 2

From Middle English boon, bone, borrowed from Old Northern French boon, from Old French bon (“good”), from Latin bonus (“good”), from Latin duonus, dvenos, from Proto-Indo-European *dū- (“to respect”).

Adjective

boon (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) Good; prosperous.

   boon voyage

2. Kind; bountiful; benign.
   • John Milton

     Which […] Nature boon / Poured forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain.

3. Now only in boon companion: gay; merry; jovial; convivial.
   • John Arbuthnot

     a boon companion, loving his bottle

   • 1922 February, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare & Co.; Sylvia Beach, OCLC 560090630; republished London: Published for the Egoist Press, London by John Rodker, Paris, October 1922, OCLC 2297483:

     Episode 16

     --No, Mr Bloom repeated again, I wouldn't personally repose much trust in that boon companion of yours who contributes the humorous element, if I were in your shoes.

   • Les Misérables (musical), "Master of the House," second and third refrains, fifth line:

     (2) "Everybody's boon companion, / Everybody's chaperon"; (3) "Everybody's boon companion: / Give[s] 'em everything he's got"

Related terms

• bounty

Translations

kind; bountiful; benign

• Bulgarian: добър (bg) (dobǎr), благотворен (bg) (blagotvoren)
• Dutch: lief (nl), goedaardig (nl)

• Russian: до́брый (ru) (dóbryj), доброжелательный (ru) (dobroželatelʹnyj)

gay; merry; jovial; convivial

• Bulgarian: весел (bg) (vesel), приятен (bg) (prijaten)
• Dutch: vrolijk (nl), minzaam (nl)

• Russian: весёлый (ru) (vesjólyj)

Etymology 3

From Middle English bone (North), akin to or alteration of Old English bune (“reed”).

Noun

boon (uncountable)

1. The woody portion of flax, separated from the fiber as refuse matter by retting, braking, and scutching.

Synonyms

• shive, shove

Anagrams

• Bono, NOBO, Obon, noob

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Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch boon, from Middle Dutch bône, from Old Dutch *bōna, from Proto-Germanic *baunō.

Noun

boon (plural bone, diminutive boontjie)

1. bean

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Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch bône, from Old Dutch *bōna, from Proto-Germanic *baunō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /boːn/
• (Belgium) IPA^(key): [boːn]
• (Netherlands) IPA^(key): [boʊ̯n]
• (Netherlands)

  Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: boon
• Rhymes: -oːn

Noun

boon f or m (plural bonen, diminutive boontje n)

1. bean

Hypernyms

• peulvrucht

Derived terms

• blauwe boon
• bonenkruid
• bruine boon
• cacaoboon
• kidneyboon
• koffieboon
• rumboon
• snijboon
• sperzieboon
• tuinboon
• witte boon

Descendants

• Afrikaans: boon
• → Papiamentu: bonchi (from the diminutive)
• → Sranan Tongo: bonki (from the diminutive)

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Middle English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /boːn/

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Old Norse bón, from Proto-Germanic *bōniz.

Alternative forms

• bone

Noun

boon (plural boons or boonen)

1. prayer, supplication, request
2. boon, bonus

Descendants

• English: boon
• Scots: boon

Etymology 2

From Old English bān.

Noun

boon (plural boons)

1. Alternative form of bon

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Old Northern French boon, from Old French bon (“good”).

Alternative forms

• bone

Adjective

boon

1. good

Descendants

• English: boon