Word.ws English Dictionary

bon mot

/bɒn məʊ/US/ˌbɑn ˈmoʊ/

bon mot noun: a clever saying, phrase, or witticism; often, a witty riposte in dialogue.

Noun

bon mot (plural bons mots or bon mots)

  1. A clever saying, phrase, or witticism; often, a witty riposte in dialogue.
    • But ſo it is: our Writer has met with a Bon Mot of this Cato’s; which, according to his ſhallow Underſtanding and ſilly Interpretation, he preſages will ever live as a noble Free-thinking Saying.1725, “Phileleutherus Lipsiensis” [pseudonym; Richard Bentley], chapter LII, in Remarks upon a Late Discourse of Free-thinking [by Anthony Collins]: In a Letter to N. N. … Part the Second, 6th...
    • ―In England, dear Sir, ſaid I, we ſit all at our eaſe. The old French officer would have ſet me at unity with myſelf, in caſe I had been at variance,—by ſaying it was a bon mot—and as a bon mot is always worth ſomething at Paris, he offered me a pinch of ſnuff.1768, Mr. Yorick [pseudonym; Laurence Sterne], “The Dwarf. Paris.”, in A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, volume I, London: […] T. Becket and P. A. De Hondt, […], →OCLC, page 197

bon mot meaning in Tamil, Malayalam and Thai

bon mot in Tamil

நகைச்சுவைத்துணுக்கு, திறம்பட்ட சொற்றொடர்

bon mot in Malayalam

quip, witticism, pun
ഫലിതോക്തി, ഫലിതപ്രയോഗം, തമാശ, നർമ്മവാക്യം, ലാലിക, ഫലിതമയമായ മറുപടി

bon mot in Thai

clever saying, phrase, or witticism
คำคม kam-kom

Synonyms of bon mot

Forms of bon mot

pluralbons mots
pluralbon mots
alternative formbonmot
alternative formbon-mot

Origin of bon mot

Borrowed from French bon mot (literally “good word”).

Questions about bon mot

What does bon mot mean?
Bon mot means a clever saying, phrase, or witticism; often, a witty riposte in dialogue.
What is bon mot in Tamil?
Bon mot in Tamil is நகைச்சுவைத்துணுக்கு, திறம்பட்ட சொற்றொடர். See Bon mot meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is bon mot?
Bon mot is a noun.
How do you pronounce bon mot?
Bon mot is pronounced /bɒn məʊ/ (UK).
What is the plural of bon mot?
The plural of bon mot is bons mots.

Words near bon mot in the dictionary

  1. bon appétit
  2. bon bon chicken
  3. Bon Festival
  4. Bon Gula
  5. Bon Homme County
  6. bon mot
  7. bon mots
  8. bon sao
  9. bon ton
  10. bon vivant
  11. bon vivants

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bon mot (page history and authors); bon mot (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bon mot (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-bon mot.wav.

Cite this entry: “bon mot.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bon_mot. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.