Scottish word of the week: Bonnie

A quintissentially Scottish word if ever there was one, bonnie - meaning pretty or beautiful - is actually thought to be derived from the French word ‘bon’.

A Bonnie lassie onstage. Picture: PA Wire/Dominic Lipinski

Though, like its French antecedent, it can also used to describe something as being good, it more often applies to praise towards the fairer sex - “a bonnie lassie”.

Bonnie is also a girls’ name - some famous ones include singer Bonnie Tyler, Bonnie and Clyde, and actress Bonnie Wright. You may have noticed a lack of Scottish examples. Despite its provenance, Bonnie is a far more popular name in the US than in Scotland.

A word that remains in fairly common use to this day, a recent Scotsman story about opposition to houseboats on Loch Lomond ran with the headline: Houseboats? Not on our ‘bonnie banks’, say Loch Lomond Association.

SEE ALSO: Loch Lomond banks to be bonnie again with new plan