Etymology

debonair

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Today it means: Gracious, courteous. Full definition →

Middle English debonaire ← Old French de bon aire
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The story

  1. Old French · derived fromde bon aire“of good stock; noble”
  2. Middle English · inherited fromdebonaire
  3. English todaydebonair

Via Middle English debonaire from Old French de bon aire (“of good stock; noble”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.