bonne volonté

\bɔn vo.lɔ̃.te\

/\bɔn vo.lɔ̃.te\/ noun

The verdict

“bonne volonté” is outside the top-ranked French vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
13
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Volonté de rendre service, de bien faire ou d’être serviable.

Key facts for bonne volonté
PropertyValue
Headwordbonne volonté
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\bɔn vo.lɔ̃.te\
Letters13
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “bonne volonté” sits in French frequency

bonne volonté falls outside the top-100,000 ranked French words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for bonne volonté is 13 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \bɔn vo.lɔ̃.te\. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

bonne volonté has no tracked misspelling variants, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is bonne volonté, spelled B-O-N-N-E- -V-O-L-O-N-T-É.

Definition

  1. 1
    Volonté de rendre service, de bien faire ou d’être serviable.
  2. 2
    Personne dont le but est de faire le bien.
  3. 3
    Personne capable de dévouement et d’altruisme.

Antonyms

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

How do you spell "bonne volonté"?
"bonne volonté" is spelled B-O-N-N-E- -V-O-L-O-N-T-É. The IPA pronunciation is \bɔn vo.lɔ̃.te\.
What does "bonne volonté" mean?
As a noun, "bonne volonté" means: Volonté de rendre service, de bien faire ou d’être serviable.
How do you pronounce "bonne volonté"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "bonne volonté" is \bɔn vo.lɔ̃.te\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "bonne volonté" come from?
"bonne volonté" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “bonne volonté”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is B-O-N-N-E- -V-O-L-O-N-T-É - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \bɔn vo.lɔ̃.te\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French 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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list