Wordwyrt

debonair

/ˌdebəˈneə/deh-buh-NUH
/ˌdɛbəˈnɛɹ/deh-buh-NER

Meaningof good bearing

Common meaning: confident, charming and well dressed

Journey through time

  1. Frenchde bon airesource
  2. Middle Englishdebonere‘courteous’source
  3. Englishmeaning shiftscourteous → confident, charming and well dresseddebonair‘confident, charming and well dressed’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Built on French de bon aire ‘of good bearing’.

Did you know: our wording, based on Skeat, Concise Etymological Dictionary (1911), entry DEBONAIR, p. 130 · dictionary scan

Roots

Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app