English

Noun

embonpoint ‎(plural embonpoints)

1. Plumpness, stoutness, especially when voluptuous.
   • 1911, J.M. Barrie, Peter and Wendy:

     She was slightly inclined to embonpoint.

   • 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses:

     The beautiful woman threw off her sabletrimmed wrap, displaying her queenly shoulders and heaving embonpoint.

   • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin 2003, p. 1:

     The patient's physicians had always allowed him to indulge a gargantuan appetite, countering his intake and regulating his embonpoint by a heroic diet of purges and enemas.

Translations

Adjective

embonpoint ‎(comparative more embonpoint, superlative most embonpoint)

1. Plump, chubby, buxom.

Translations

French

Etymology

From en bon point ‎(literally “in good condition”).

The rule in French is to write /n/ as /m/ in front of /m, p/ or /b/ - here the rule is applied to the first /n/ but not the second since the rule does not apply to the words derived from bon : bonbon, bonbonne and bonbonnière.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑ̃.bɔ̃.pwɛ̃/

Noun

embonpoint m ‎(plural embonpoints)

1. plumpness, stoutness

   Quoique La Brière fût alors mince, il appartient à ce genre de tempéraments qui, formés tard, prennent à trente ans un embonpoint inattendu. (Honoré de Balzac, Modeste Mignon, 1844)

Synonyms

• obésité
• surpoids