Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A small, exquisitely wrought trinket.
  • adjective Small and elegant.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun . A jewel; specifically, a jewel of gold richly wrought in the metal itself without the aid of precious stones. See bijouterie.
  • noun Hence2. An object of beauty of small size; something delicately pretty; any relatively small charming object.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A trinket; a jewel; -- a word applied to anything small and of elegant workmanship.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun jewel
  • noun a piece of jewelry, a trinket
  • noun a small intricately made metalworking
  • adjective of a residence small and elegant
  • adjective intricate; finely made

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a small and delicately worked piece

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, from Breton bizou, jeweled ring, from biz, finger.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French bijou

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word bijou.

Examples

  • (My Petit Robert on CD-ROM allows searches by all entry fields by which I think I discovered that "bijou" is from Breton.)

    detente - French Word-A-Day 2009

  • Egbert Dormer did not turn out from his hand so much work as some men that I know, but he was overflowing with art up to his ears — and with tobacco, so that, upon the whole, the bijou was a pleasant rendezvous.

    Ayala's Angel 2004

  • Egbert Dormer did not turn out from his hand so much work as some men that I know, but he was overflowing with art up to his ears -- and with tobacco, so that, upon the whole, the bijou was a pleasant rendezvous.

    Ayala's Angel 1993

  • Egbert Dormer did not turn out from his hand so much work as some men that I know, but he was overflowing with art up to his ears -- and with tobacco, so that, upon the whole, the bijou was a pleasant rendezvous.

    Ayala's Angel 1881

  • Egbert Dormer did not turn out from his hand so much work as some men that I know, but he was overflowing with art up to his ears -- and with tobacco, so that, upon the whole, the bijou was a pleasant rendezvous.

    Ayala's Angel 1881

  • The bijou, that is now missing one diamond, is estimated to sell for between $US300,000 ($307,000) to $US500,000 ($511,000) at the auction, set for December 15-17.

    NEWS.com.au | Top Stories 2011

  • It houses not only a flat-screen television, DVD player, reclining leather armchair, capacious bookshelves and an L-shaped execu-desk, but also a loo and what an estate agent might call a bijou kitchenette.

    Life and style | guardian.co.uk 2010

  • My cottage is what estate agents used to call 'bijou'.

    Kitchen Confidential Peter Ashley 2008

  • It is now wall to wall marina with one 'bijou' corner' being reserved for the new BBC premises pete

    ALL AT SEA.. 2009

  • My Petit Robert on CD-ROM allows searches by all entry fields by which I think I discovered that "bijou" is from Breton.

    detente - French Word-A-Day 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Also French, 'jewel'

    July 15, 2008

  • Yes, it's French. It comes from the Breton word bizou "(jewelled) ring" from bez "finger". Early known documented usage in English is dated 1668.

    December 7, 2008