bonanza · name — A city in Klamath County, Oregon, United States.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, bonanza ranks #6,506 of 17,136 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #6,763 of 17,135 for Most Elegant Words, #7,118 of 17,150 for Most Incisive Words, #7,250 of 17,152 for Most Whimsical Words.
bonanza is pronounced /bəˈnæn.zə/.
Why “bonanza” is a great word
An exceptionally rich source of wealth or a sudden, large profit. From Spanish bonanza ("fair weather, prosperity, rich lode"), from Vulgar Latin *bonacia ("lull, dead calm"), a nasalized variant influenced by Latin bonus ("good") of Latin malacia ("calm sea"), from Ancient Greek μαλακία (malakía, "softness, calm"), first attested in English in the mid-19th century. Unlike a "windfall," which is a single, unexpected apple shaken from the tree, or a "lode," which is merely the geological promise in the rock, a bonanza is the fulfillment of that promise—a sustained rush of glittering yield. It is the mother seam in a played-out mountain, the gusher that blackens the sky, the unbroken run of luck at a green felt table: a temporary climate where everything turns, softly and certainly, to gold.
❧ Essay by Lexicurio’s AI · definition, etymology & citations from published sources
Etymology
Borrowed from Spanish bonanza (“dead calm, fair weather, good luck, rich lode”), from Vulgar Latin *bonacia (“lull, dead calm”), in turn from Latin malacia (“calm sea”), influenced by bonus (“good”) under the false impression that initial mal- is a derivate of malus (“bad”).
name
- A city in Klamath County, Oregon, United States.
noun
- A rich mine or vein of silver or gold.
- The point at which two mother lodes intersect.
- Anything which is a great source of wealth or yields a large income or return.e.g.“The popular show quickly became a ratings bonanza for the network.”
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.