Bounty

How to spell bounty

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce bounty

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does bounty mean?

1. nounA sum of money offered as a reward or incentive, often for capturing someone or for completing a specified action.
2. nounA generous quantity of something, especially the rich produce of the land.

Bounty in a sentence

• The sheriff placed a bounty on the escaped robber.

• The autumn harvest brought a bounty of apples and pears.

• The government offered a bounty to farmers who cleared invasive weeds.

• The market stalls overflowed with the bounty of the summer crops.

Where does bounty come from?

Language of origin: French

This word travelled into English from the Old French bonte (later bonte), which meant 'goodness' or 'kindness'. That French word descended from the Latin bonitas, an abstract noun built on bonus, meaning simply 'good'. When English adopted it in the 1200s the earliest sense was the moral one, a person's generosity or kind nature, and only later did it broaden to mean the lavish gifts or abundance that flow from such generosity. From there the modern senses developed: the rich plenty of a harvest, and the reward or premium offered to encourage some action, such as the capture of a wanted person. The same Latin bonus survives in everyday relatives like 'bonus' itself and 'bonny', which helps explain why the spelling keeps the 'boun' rather than anything ending in a softer sound.

How the word is built

• boun- (from Latin bonus: good)
• -ty (noun suffix forming an abstract quality)