boon

See also: bon and Boon

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /buːn/

• Audio (RP)

  (file)

• 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.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for VVilliam Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, book III, canto VII, stanza 34, page 503:

     The wofull husbandman doth lowd complaine,
     To ſee his whole yeares labor loſt ſo ſoone,
     For which to God he made ſo many an idle boone.

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 (cs) n, dobrodiní n, laskavost (cs) f
• Dutch: zegen (nl), voordeel (nl)
• Finnish: siunaus (fi)
• French: aubaine (fr) f
• German: Segen (de) m, Wohltat (de) f, Gnade (de) f, Gunst (de) f
• Gothic: 𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌸 n (þiuþ)
• Interlingue: benedition

• 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)
• Sanskrit: वर (sa) m (vara)
• 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 (cs) n, dobrodiní n
• Dutch: gift (nl), geschenk (nl)
• Finnish: lahja (fi)

• German: Gabe (de) f, Gunst (de) f, Gefälligkeit f, Wohltat (de) f
• Russian: дар (ru) m (dar), благодея́ние (ru) n (blagodejánije)
• Sanskrit: राधस् (sa) n (rādhas), वर (sa) m (vara)
• Turkish: lütuf (tr)

a prayer or petition

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

• German: Gebet (de) n, Gesuch (de) n, Bittschrift (de) f, Bitte (de) f, Eingabe (de) f, Bittgesuch n
• 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 Old Latin duonus, dvenos, from Proto-Indo-European *dū- (“to respect”).

Adjective

boon (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) Good; prosperous.

   boon voyage

2. (archaic) Kind; bountiful; benign.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book 4”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:

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

3. (now only in boon companion) gay; merry; jovial; convivial.
   • 1712, John Arbuthnot, The History of John Bull

     a boon companion, loving his bottle

   • 1922 February, James Joyce, Ulysses, London: The Egoist Press, published 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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bʊə̯n/

Noun

boon (plural bone, diminutive boontjie)

1. bean

Descendants

• → Xhosa: imbotyi (from the diminutive)

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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
• sojaboon
• sperzieboon
• tuinboon
• witte boon

Descendants

• Afrikaans: boon
  • → Xhosa: imbotyi (from the diminutive)
• → Indonesian: buncis (from the diminutive plural)
• → 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