bon vivant
/ˌbɑn vɪvˈɑnt/
"bon-vivant" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bon vivant” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A man who enjoys luxurious things in life, especially good food and drink; a man about town.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | bon vivant |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌbɑn vɪvˈɑnt/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “bon vivant” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
bon vivant is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌbɑn vɪvˈɑnt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A man who enjoys luxurious things in life, especially good food and drink; a man about town.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for bon vivant, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French bon vivant (literally “one who lives well, good ‘liver’ (living person)”), from bon (“good”) + vivant (“person who is living”), agent noun of vivre (“to live”). The correct English form is bon vivant, spelled B-O-N- -V-I-V-A-N-T.
Definition
- 1A man who enjoys luxurious things in life, especially good food and drink; a man about town.
Etymology
Borrowed from French bon vivant (literally “one who lives well, good ‘liver’ (living person)”), from bon (“good”) + vivant (“person who is living”), agent noun of vivre (“to live”).
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “bon vivant”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-O-N- -V-I-V-A-N-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌbɑn vɪvˈɑnt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.