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To ask what bonny means when describing a baby?

183 replies

Oysterbabe · 03/05/2016 09:26

I'd never heard it before having kids. Everyone keeps telling me DD is bonny. I'm not 100% on what it means. Does it mean fat?
She does have lovely chubby cheeks and thighs that you just can't help but squidge.

OP posts:
LisaRinnasLips · 03/05/2016 09:27

Fat basically Grin my dad calls my dd bonny

echt · 03/05/2016 09:28

If you're in Lancashire it means a bit fat.

Elsewhere it probably means pretty.

Princesspinkgirl · 03/05/2016 09:28

Hi it means beautiful

LifeIsChaos · 03/05/2016 09:28

Bonny in the north east means pretty/nice looking.

PinotAndPlaydough · 03/05/2016 09:28

I always thought it meant pretty

IwillrunIwillfly · 03/05/2016 09:28

In Scotland it means pretty/beautiful :)

paxillin · 03/05/2016 09:29

Cute and fat.

JockTamsonsBairns · 03/05/2016 09:29

In Scotland it means pretty

verite · 03/05/2016 09:29

Just means pretty/cute etc. Nothing negative. At least that's how it's used in the north east.

QueenCuntyFlippers · 03/05/2016 09:30

In the NE here, it means pretty.
Bonny bairns :)

madcapcat · 03/05/2016 09:30

Here in Scotland it means pretty in a chubby way

ShatnersBassoon · 03/05/2016 09:30

No, not fat! It means beautiful. Bonny baby competitions aren't about which one is the fattest.

TheRollingCrone · 03/05/2016 09:30

Beautiful "by the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomand"

Hagothehills · 03/05/2016 09:30

I always thought it meant something akin to beautiful, like, not just cute but lovely and sweet natured too

LittleLionMansMummy · 03/05/2016 09:30

I prefer well covered to 'fat' but i also took it to mean healthy looking, rosy cheeked and lively. I think bonny is a lovely word - exactly what a baby should be!

pigsDOfly · 03/05/2016 09:30

I always thought it meant a healthy looking, nicely chubby baby.

OohhItsNotHoxton · 03/05/2016 09:30

Happy and cute here.

Alexa444 · 03/05/2016 09:30

Bonny means beautiful, small. I think literally it means pretty and petite. But language changes. My uncke is scottish and every small girl is a bonny wee lass to him.

HeckyWithTheGoodBear · 03/05/2016 09:31

It means fat?? ShockShock it's my baby's name! Have I subjected her to a life of merciless teasing?

ArmySal · 03/05/2016 09:31

I'm Lancashire and it means pretty/a good looker.
Never heard it used as chubby, youngsters can also be classed as bonny, probably up to teens I've heard it mentioned about...

''He's a bonny lad...' etc

TondelayaDellaVentamiglia · 03/05/2016 09:32

sturdy, well fed, content, happy, face only a mother could love

BUT also in Scotland I think it is a bit of a cover all....a nice simple unisex compliment, no insult to either sex, so when Miss Jean Brodie is cooing over your PFB she needs not worry about causing offence when she declares Tarquin so very pretty, or states to the entire bus queue that Jocasta is very handsome.

mouldycheesefan · 03/05/2016 09:32

Regional variations. In north east means pretty. Elsewhere means fat or chubby.

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Sparrowlegs248 · 03/05/2016 09:33

Not fat. People always refer to ds as bonny. He's cute and happy with lovely rosy cheeks and a big smile. He's not fat though.

momb · 03/05/2016 09:33

It means beautiful but comes from a time when a plump baby was the best thing, so they become transposed a little.
'The child that it born on the Sabbath day is bonny and blithe and good and gay.'

Oysterbabe · 03/05/2016 09:33

So either pretty or fat or both Grin
I'm in the South West so possibly MIL means it differently than my Scottish friend.

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