What does bonne mean?
A bonne is a female domestic servant, and more specifically a children's nurse or nursery maid employed within a private household. The word was borrowed directly from French, where it is the feminine form of bon ('good'), reflecting the idea of a trusted female servant. In English usage, bonne carries a distinctly continental and somewhat period flavour: it appears most often in memoirs, biographies, and novels depicting nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century life among affluent European families, where a devoted bonne might raise several generations of children. Today the term is rare in everyday speech, having been largely displaced by words such as nanny or nursemaid, but it survives as a precise and evocative label for that particular figure of household history — the good woman who kept the nursery running.
nounA bonne is a female domestic servant, especially a children's nurse or nursery maid employed in a household.
- A female servant, especially one employed as a children's nurse or nursery maid in a private household (now chiefly historical or used of French households).
"The children were devoted to their bonne, who had cared for them since infancy."
"The memoir describes a Victorian childhood spent largely in the care of an affectionate French bonne."
"When the family moved to Paris, they engaged a bonne to look after the two youngest children."
The standard plural simply adds -s, as with most English nouns.
"Both girls later wrote fondly of the bonnes who had cared for them in Paris."
English borrowed 'bonne' straight from the French word for 'good' — because a good nanny was literally called 'a good one.'
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of bonne
Bonne comes directly from French, where it is the feminine form of bon, meaning 'good,' itself descended from Latin bonus of the same meaning. It entered English in the eighteenth century as a naturalized term for the French maidservants and children's nurses whom British families employed or encountered abroad. It thus shares its Latin root with such borrowings as bonus, bonanza, and bonbon.
Word family
Usage notes
The word is somewhat old-fashioned and literary in modern English, retaining a distinctly French flavour. It is most often encountered in biographies, memoirs, and fiction set in the nineteenth or early twentieth century, particularly describing upper- and middle-class European households.
Don't confuse with
'Bun' is a small bread roll or hairstyle; 'bonne' is a French-derived term for a children's nurse or maid.
'Bone' is the hard skeletal tissue; 'bonne' is a noun for a female servant or nursemaid.