bon ton

bon ton

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French bon ton (literally “good tone”).

Noun

bon ton (uncountable)

1. (dated) The height of fashion; fashionable society.
   • 1839, The Quarterly Review, Volume 64, p. 555:

     This part of the proposition is very popular, particularly with the higher and middle classes, because it is the fashion, and a mark of bon ton, to enclose one's letter in an envelope, even though, or perhaps because, it subjects it to double postage.

Related terms

• ton

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for bon ton in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913)

---

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French bon ton (literally “good tone”).

Noun

bon ton m (invariable)

1. sophistication, fashionability
   • 2007, Amiche per la pelle, Laila Waida.

     Lula è la nostra maestra di bonton; cerca di renderci più sofisticate.

---

Polish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French bon ton.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɔw̃ ˈtɔw̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

bon ton m inan

1. (literary) savoir-vivre

   Synonym: savoir-vivre

Declension

Declension of bon ton

	singular
nominative	bon ton
genitive	bon tonu
dative	bon tonowi
accusative	bon ton
instrumental	bon tonem
locative	bon tonie
vocative	bon tonie

or

Indeclinable.

Further reading

• bon ton in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• bon ton in Polish dictionaries at PWN