Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
bonce

bonce

9.9
A person's head, used informally in British English
  • noun
  • /bɒns/
  • UK
translation icon : cabeza
  • She often wears hats to protect her bonce from the sun.

Examples

  • Oi, big bonce.

    Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)

  • But mind ye, old Blackie, she'll be waiting for ye - the half-hanging remnants up above, ready to drop on your bonce like vengeance.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • Tell these good people how many bottles of Yuk it took... to raise that magnificent tonsure on your bonce.

    Snow White and the Three Stooges (1961)

  • He bumped his head and now it hurts on his bonce.

  • After wearing the helmet for too long, he felt a pressure on his bonce.

Synonyms

bean
vsbonce
  • Slang
101 9.3

A person's head in informal speech

is chiefly British informal rather than a neutral informal term
noodle
vsbonce
  • Informal
28 8.3

A playful word for a person's head

is chiefly British informal and may be less playful
dome
vsbonce
  • Slang
23 8.2

A person's head in informal speech

is used mainly in British informal speech rather than general usage
noggin
vsbonce
  • Informal
20 8.7

A person's head

is mainly British informal rather than universally informal
pate
vsbonce
7 9.0

The top of the head that is often bald

refers to the whole head in general informal British use
attic
vsbonce
  • Slang
2 9.0

The top part of a person's body that people mean as a joke or in informal talk

is chiefly British informal rather than broadly humorous term

How Informal

noggin
  • Informal
20 8.7
bonce
  • UK
9.9
pate
7 9.0
head
∞ 1.0
cranium
  • Specialized
20 5.7

Surface Forms

bonce singular
bonces plural

Etymology

The word bonce is British slang for a person's 'head'. A helpful way to remember it is to think of bounce or the word 'bump', because if your head hits something it can bounce or get a bump, so bonce means 'head'.