Word.ws English Dictionary

bonny

bonny is the alternative spelling of bonnie.

Meaning of bonnie

Adjective

bonnie (comparative bonnier or more bonnie, superlative bonniest or most bonnie)

  1. Merry; happy.
    • Be you blithe and bonny
      Converting all your sounds of woe
      Into Hey nonny, nonny.1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
  2. (Geordie, Scotland) Beautiful; pretty; attractive; handsome.
    • O once I lov'd a bonnie lass, / Aye, and I love her still1774, “Handsome Nell”, Robert Burns (lyrics), published 1803
  3. (Geordie, Scotland) Fine, good (often used ironically).
    • My bonnie friend, come over here.

See all 5 meanings of bonnie

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Bonny

Bonny

  1. A female given name from English.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Bonny

Bonny (countable and uncountable, plural Bonnys)

  1. A surname.
  2. An unincorporated community in Morgan County, Kentucky, United States.

Forms of bonny

Adjective
comparativebonnier
comparativemore bonny
superlativebonniest
superlativemost bonny
Noun
pluralbonnies
Proper noun
pluralBonnys

Origin of bonny

From Middle English *boni (attested only rarely as bon, boun), probably from Old French bon, feminine bonne (“good”), from Latin bonus (“good”). See bounty, and compare bonus, boon.

Clipping of bonfire.

Variant of Bonnie.

Words formed from bonny

Phrases with bonny

Words that rhyme with bonny

Questions about bonny

What does bonny mean?
Bonny means a female given name from English.
What is bonny the alternative spelling of?
Bonny is the alternative spelling of bonnie.
What part of speech is bonny?
Bonny is a proper noun.

Words near bonny in the dictionary

  1. bonnily
  2. Bonnin
  3. bonniness
  4. Bonnington
  5. Bonnins
  6. bonny
  7. Bonny Doon
  8. Bonny Hills
  9. bonny-clabber
  10. Bonnybridge
  11. bonnyclabber

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bonny (page history and authors); Bonny (page history and authors); bonnie (page history and authors). 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.

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