bonhomie
/ˈbɒnəmiː/
"bonhomie" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bonhomie” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A friendly, good-natured, pleasant manner; an affable and approachable disposition; friendliness.
Corpus desk
Index EN-bonhomie · bonhomie · English
bonhomie · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "B" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | bonhomie |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈbɒnəmiː/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “bonhomie” in English
Rare enough to double-check
bonhomie is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈbɒnəmiː/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for bonhomie in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: PIE word *dʰéǵʰōm Borrowed from French bonhomie, bonhommie (“good-heartedness; extreme credulity”), from bonhomme (“chap, fellow; courageous man; peasant; unwise man who allows himself to be deceived and dominated”) (from bon (“good”) + homme (“man”)) + -i… The correct English form is bonhomie, spelled B-O-N-H-O-M-I-E.
Definition
- 1A friendly, good-natured, pleasant manner; an affable and approachable disposition; friendliness.
- 2An atmosphere of friendliness and good cheer.
- 3A cheerful remark.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how bonhomie appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
His ungainly person and awkward manners were against him with men accustomed to the graces of society, and he was not sufficiently at home to give play to his humor and to that bonhomie which won the hearts of all who knew him.
[T]he unknown Arlo Guthrie takes the stage, ending up in the movie, and – through sheer bonhomie – selling a million copies of Alice's Restaurant.
Etymology
PIE word *dʰéǵʰōm Borrowed from French bonhomie, bonhommie (“good-heartedness; extreme credulity”), from bonhomme (“chap, fellow; courageous man; peasant; unwise man who allows himself to be deceived and dominated”) (from bon (“good”) + homme (“man”)) + -ie (suffix forming feminine, usually abstract, nouns).
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.