bon appétit

See also: bon appetit

English

Alternative forms

• bon appetit, (humorous) bone apple tea

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French bon appétit (literally “good appetite”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌbɒn apəˈtiː/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌboʊn æpəˈti(t)/
• Most American and British dictionaries prescribe French-like pronunciations like /ˌbɔː.næ.peɪˈtiː/, /ˌbɒn apɛˈtiː/ and /ˈbɔn ˌæpəˈti/, which, however, are not encountered in American speech, where the pronunciations /ˌboʊn æpəˈtit/ and /ˌboʊn æpəˈti/ predominate.
• Rhymes: -iː, -iːt
• Hyphenation: bon ap‧pé‧tit

Phrase

bon appétit

1. Used to wish someone enjoyment of the meal they are about to eat.

   Synonym: enjoy your meal

Translations

used to wish someone enjoyment of the meal they are about to eat

• Afrikaans: lekker eet
• Albanian: ju bëftë mirë, t'boftë mire
• Arabic: شَهْيَة طَيِّبَة (šahiyya ṭayyiba), بِٱلصِّحَّةِ وَٱلْعَافِيَةِ (bi-ṣ-ṣiḥḥati wal-ʕāfiyati), بِٱلْهَنَاءِ وَٱلشِّفَاءِ (bi-l-hanāʔi waš-šifāʔi), وَجْبَة طَيِّبَة (wajba ṭayyiba)

  Egyptian Arabic: بالهنا والشفا (be-l-hana we-šefa)

  Gulf Arabic: بالعافية (bilʕāfya)

  Hijazi Arabic: بالعافية (bilʕāfya), صِحَّة و عافية (ṣiḥḥa u ʕāfya)

  Levantine Arabic: صَحْتِين (ṣaḥtēn)

• Armenian: բարի ախորժակ (bari axoržak)
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܢܗܵܢܹܐ ܠܘܼܟ݂ (nhānē loḵ) (to a man), ܢܗܵܢܹܐ ܠܵܟ݂ܝ (nhānē lāḵ) (to a woman), ܢܗܵܢܹܐ ܠܵܘܟ݂ܘܿܢ (nhānē loḵon) (to a group), ܨܵܠܹܐ ܘܒܵܢܹܐ (ṣālē w-bānē), ܨܲܚܬܹܝܢ (ṣaḥtēyn)
• Azerbaijani: nuş olsun
• Basque: on egin, on dagizula, on dagizuela
• Belarusian: сма́чна е́сці (smáčna jésci), прые́мнага апеты́ту (pryjémnaha apjetýtu)
• Bulgarian: бон апети́ (bon apetí), до́бър апети́т (dóbǎr apetít), прия́тен апети́т (prijáten apetít)
• Catalan: bon profit
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: (used in the same context) 慢慢食 (maan⁶ maan^6-2 sik⁶, literally “eat slowly”), 請慢用／请慢用 (cing² maan⁶ jung⁶), 慢用 (maan⁶ jung⁶)

  Mandarin: (used in the same context) 慢慢吃 (zh) (mànmàn chī, literally “eat slowly”), 請慢用／请慢用 (qǐng mànyòng), 慢用 (mànyòng)

• Corsican: bon appetitu
• Crimean Tatar: aş olsun, aş tatlı olsun, (Northern dialect) aş bolsın
• Czech: dobrou chuť (cs), nechej si chutnat, nech si chutnat
• Danish: velbekomme, god appetit
• Dutch: (formal, proscribed) smakelijk eten, eet smakelijk, (informal) smakelijk (nl)
• Esperanto: bonan apetiton
• Estonian: head isu
• Faroese: væl gagnist
• Finnish: hyvää ruokahalua
• French: bon appétit (fr), (informal) bon ap’
• Galician: bo proveito
• Georgian: ღმერთმა შეგარგოთ (ɣmertma šegargot), გაამოთ (gaamot), გაამოს (gaamos)
• German: guten Appetit (de), (informal) lass es dir schmecken, lasst es euch schmecken, (formal) lassen Sie es sich schmecken, (colloquial) Mahlzeit (de)

  Alemannic German: en Guete, en Guetä

• Greek: καλή όρεξη (el) (kalí órexi)
• Hebrew: בְּתֵאָבוֹן (he) (b'te'avón)
• Hindi: सुख भोजन (sukh bhojan), कृपया भोजन का आनंद लीजिये (kŕpayā bhojan kā ānand lījiye)
• Hungarian: jó étvágyat (hu)
• Icelandic: verði þér að góðu (is) sg, verði ykkur að góðu (is) pl
• Ido: bona apetito
• Indonesian: selamat makan
• Ingrian: leipää soolaa
• Italian: buon appetito
• Japanese: (used in the same context) どうぞ召し上がれ (どうぞめしあがれ, dōzo meshiagare, literally “please eat”), どうぞごゆっくり (dōzo go-yukkuri, literally “please do it slowly”), 頂きます (ja) (いただきます, itadakimasu, literally “I/we will eat”) (a stock phrase before starting a meal)
• Kannada: ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿ ಊಟ ಮಾಡಿ (cennāgi ūṭa māḍi)
• Kazakh: ас болсын (as bolsyn), ас дәмді болсын (as dämdı bolsyn), асыңыз дәмді болсын (asyñyz dämdı bolsyn)
• Khmer: សុភោជន (sophoocŭən), សុរសភោជន (soraʼ sɑɑ phoocŭən), អញ្ជើញពិសាឲ្យបានឆ្ងាញ់ (ʼɑñcəəñ pisaa ʼaoy baan chngañ)
• Korean: 맛있게 드세요 (masitge deuseyo), 많이 드세요 (mani deuseyo), 잘 먹겠습니다 (jal meokgetseumnida, literally “I/we will eat”) (a stock phrase before starting a meal), 맛있게 먹어요 (masitge meogeoyo) (less formal), 잘 먹어 (jal meogeo) (non-polite), 많이 먹어 (mani meogeo) (non-polite)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: noşîcan (ku), noşî can be (ku)

• Kyrgyz: аш болсун (aş bolsun)
• Lao: ຈະເຣີນອາຫານ (cha rœ̄n ʼā hān), ເຊີນແຊບ (sœ̄n sǣp)
• Latin: bene sapiat
• Latvian: labu apetīti
• Lithuanian: gero apetito, skanaus
• Macedonian: пријатно јадење (prijatno jadenje)
• Malay: selamat makan, selamat menjamu selera
• Maltese: l-ikla t-tajba
• Mòcheno: molzait
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: перкан лийже (perkan ĺijže)

• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: сайхан хооллоорой (sajxan xoollooroj), хооллоорой (xoollooroj)

• Northern Sami: buorre borranlusttu
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: vel bekomme, spis godt, håper det smaker

• Pashto: خورمن دې ښه (xwǝrmǝn de ša)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: نوشِ جان (fa) (nuš-e jân), نوشِ جون (nuš-e jun) (colloquial, Tehrani)

• Polish: smacznego (pl)
• Portuguese: bom apetite (pt), bom proveito
• Romanian: poftă bună, poftă mare
• Russian: прия́тного аппети́та (ru) (prijátnovo appetíta)
• Scottish Gaelic: ith do leòr
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: при̏ја̄тно, до̏бар те̑к

  Roman: prȉjātno (sh), dȍbar tȇk

• Slovak: dobrú chuť
• Slovene: dọ́bər tẹ̑k
• Spanish: buen provecho, buen apetito, (informal) que aproveches sg, que aprovechéis pl, (formal or American) que aproveche sg, que aprovechen pl
• Swahili: karibu chakula
• Swedish: smaklig måltid (sv), smaklig spis (sv) (archaic), låt det smaka
• Tahitian: tāmā'a maita'i
• Tatar: тәмле булсын (tämle bulsın)
• Thai: เชิญทานครับ (chəən taan kráp) (said by a man), เชิญทานค่ะ (chəən taan kâ) (said by a woman), ทานให้อร่อยนะ (taan hâi à-rɔ̀i ná), กินให้อร่อย (gin hâi à-rɔ̀i), ทานให้อร่อย (taan hâi à-rɔ̀i)
• Turkish: afiyet olsun (tr)
• Tuvaluan: kai malosi
• Udmurt: ческыд мед кошкоз (ćeskyd med koškoz)
• Ukrainian: смачно́го (smačnóho), приє́много апети́ту (pryjémnoho apetýtu)
• Urdu: نوش فَرْمائِیے (noś farmāiye), نوشِ جان (noś-i jān) (Persian, rare)
• Uyghur: ئاش بولسۇن (ash bolsun), سىڭىشلىك بولسۇن (si'ngishlik bolsun)
• Uzbek: yoqimli ishtaha
• Veps: hüväd litud
• Vietnamese: ăn nào, ăn ngon nhé, chúc ngon miệng
• Xhosa: ukonwabele ukutya kwakho
• Yiddish: (informal) עס געזונטערהײט (es gezunterheyt), (formal) עסט געזונטערהײט (est gezunterheyt)

French

French phrasebook

This entry is part of the phrasebook project, which presents criteria for inclusion based on utility, simplicity and commonness.

Etymology

Literally, “good appetite”.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɔ.n‿a.pe.ti/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -i

Phrase

bon appétit !

1. bon appétit, enjoy your meal

   Synonyms: bon ap’ (informal shortening), bon app

   Coordinate term: bonne dégustation

Usage notes

• Unlike equivalent phrases in an English-speaking context, bon appétit in French is a politeness formula used much more automatically, like please or thank you. As well as when serving a meal or sitting down to eat with others, it is also used when getting up from the table where others are still eating, or when greeting or departing from someone who is eating, or when saying goodbye to someone who is leaving in order to eat (e.g. leaving work at lunchtime).