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noun, masculine

embonpoint

/ɑ̃.bɔ̃.pwɛ̃/

noun, masculine/ɑ̃.bɔ̃.pwɛ̃/plural: embonpoints

plumpness, stoutness

Quoique La Brière fût alors mince, il appartient à ce genre de tempéraments qui, formés tard, prennent à trente ans un embonpoint inattendu.Although La Brière was slim then, he has one of those constitutions which develop late and take on an unexpected plumpness at the age of thirty.

Synonyms: obésité, surpoids

Univerbation of en bon point (“in good condition”). The rule in French is to write ⟨m⟩ instead of ⟨n⟩ before ⟨m⟩, ⟨p⟩ or ⟨b⟩ – here the rule is applied to the first ⟨n⟩ but not the second, since it does not apply to words derived from bon; compare bonbon, bonbonnerie, bonbonnier and bonbonnière. The word bonbonne, however, is not derived from bon, but from Occitan boumbouno, ultimately from Latin bombus; the variant spelling bombonne reflects this etymology and has been noted as such by some lex