tenir bon
\tə.niʁ bɔ̃\
The verdict
“tenir bon” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Résister ; ne pas céder ; se défendre.
Corpus desk
Index FR-tenir-bon · tenir bon · French
tenir bon · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "T" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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 | tenir bon |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | \tə.niʁ bɔ̃\ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « tenir bon » en français
Rare enough to double-check
tenir bon is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed \tə.niʁ bɔ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for tenir bon, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is tenir bon, spelled T-E-N-I-R- -B-O-N.
Definition
- 1Résister ; ne pas céder ; se défendre.
- 2Continuer, persister.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how tenir bon appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
— V’là qu’est dit, fit-il, en manière de conclusion, et faudrait voir à ne pas s’dédire. On ne fait ni une ni deux, et chose arrangée doit tenir bon.
Le combat de cette après-midi aurait lieu sur les hauteurs au delà de Vauxrot, vers Terny-Sorny, les Allemands ayant, dit-on, perdu pied sur l'Aisne, et ne pouvant plus, selon toute apparence y revenir. Cependant il est certain qu'ils tiennent toujours bon dans les grottes de Pasly, de Clamecy et de la Perrière.
Synonyms
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.