Bon Mot
A neatly turned witty remark — literally a 'good word' in French.
A bon mot (French, plural bons mots) is a witty, well-turned phrase, usually delivered in conversation and remembered for the elegance of its construction. The term entered English from French salon culture, where the production of bons mots was a recognised social art.
Where a witticism is broadly any clever remark, a bon mot implies polish — a remark you could imagine being written down later in a memoir. Voltaire, Madame de Sévigné, and Sydney Smith are textbook sources; the Algonquin Round Table is the twentieth-century touchstone in English.
A bon mot loses some of its power on the page. The verbal music — timing, tone, the pause — is half the effect, which is why the best bon mots are introduced in print with a sentence of context.
“In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.”
Keep reading the glossary
A clever, often spontaneous remark that delivers humour through verbal ingenuity.
A short, witty, often satirical statement built on a clever turn.
A short, sharp statement that compresses a truth or observation into a single line.
A short rule for conduct, usually stated as a general principle.