Kilo Lingo

Line drawing of bonvenigi
Coloured illustration of bonvenigi
#2020 of 5,000 Core 5000

Translation

to bid welcome, to make welcome

Word origin

Assembled inside Esperanto from bona, good, and veni, to come, with the causative suffix -ig-. The pattern is the same one behind French bienvenue and English welcome, both of which also mean a good arrival.

Origin
Esperanto word-building
Root
bona + veni + -ig-

Examples

.

The mother welcomed us at the door.

.

We welcomed the new guests.

.

The town welcomed the king with music.

Decode it and it comes apart cleanly. Bona is good, veni is to come, so bonven- is good-coming. Add -ig-, the suffix that means to cause or to make, and is to make someone's arrival a good one. English welcome is built from precisely the same two ideas, wil and cuma, and has simply worn down too far to show it.

The greeting is Bonvenon!, and the accusative on it is not a typo. It is an elliptical accusative, short for bonvenon, I wish you a good arrival, in the same family as ! and !. Learners routinely write Bonveno and it looks wrong to any Esperantist, so learn the phrase with its -n attached.

The -- is what stops the word from meaning the wrong thing, so it is worth checking against its partner. is transitive: you welcome someone, and the object is the guest. would be to become welcome, which is something the guest does rather than the host. The whole igi and iĝi contrast lives in that one letter, and this is a tidy place to test whether you have it.

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Esperanto · Free printables

bonvenigi: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Esperanto word "bonvenigi" (to bid welcome, to make welcome): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

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This word is part of lesson 41.