Meaning & use
bonbon candy
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountableAmerican
A small sweet with a soft or creamy center, often covered in chocolate.
Grammar: Countable: one bonbon candy, a box of bonbon candies.
Patterns
- a box of bonbon candies
- a chocolate bonbon candy
- fill something with bonbon candies
She bought a small box of bonbon candies for her grandmother.
Each bonbon candy has a cherry inside and a thin chocolate shell.
The children were allowed one bonbon candy each after dinner.
nouncountableAmerican
A single piece of any small fancy candy or sweet.
Grammar: Countable and often used in the plural when talking about a handful or a gift box.
Patterns
- hand out bonbon candies
- a tray of bonbon candies
- wrap bonbon candies
They handed out bonbon candies at the end of the party.
A tray of brightly colored bonbon candies sat on the table.
Word forms
| plural | bonbon candies |
|---|
Common combinations
- a box of bonbon candies
- He gave her a box of bonbon candies on Valentine's Day.
- chocolate bonbon candy
- The shop sells a chocolate bonbon candy filled with caramel.
- a piece of bonbon candy
- She ate one piece of bonbon candy and saved the rest.
- homemade bonbon candies
- My aunt makes homemade bonbon candies every December.
- filled with
- Each bonbon candy is filled with soft vanilla cream.
Synonyms and how they differ
- bonbon
- The shorter and more common form; use it when the meaning is already clear from the situation.
- chocolate
- In British English this is the everyday word for a small chocolate sweet; it is broader than bonbon candy.
- truffle
- A truffle is a soft chocolate sweet, usually round and dusted with cocoa, not a filled sugar candy.
- praline
- A praline is a sweet made with nuts, so it fits only when the filling contains nuts.
Word family
Commonly confused: bonbon candy or bomb? bonbon candy or bon-bon?
bonbon candy vs bomb
Bonbon sounds close to bomb; the spelling differs and the meanings are unrelated, so check the letters carefully.
bonbon candy vs bon-bon
The hyphenated spelling is old-fashioned; modern American writing prefers bonbon.
Practice
Which sentence uses the noun correctly?
Choose one answer.
The noun is countable, so the plural form is bonbon candies, as in option 0. Option 1 keeps candy singular, which does not match the number three; option 2 doubles the plural; option 3 puts the words in the wrong order.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “bonbon candy”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.