Bountiful means giving generously, or present in plenty. A bountiful harvest, bountiful supply, bountiful host.
It is slightly literary and mostly used of harvests, tables and nature. Lady Bountiful is a mocking name for a woman making a show of charity, from a character in a 1707 play. Note bounty, which means both generosity and a reward offered — a bounty on a head — and that the two senses of bounty are the same word: a reward is a gift.
1adjectivebountifulGiving generously, or present in plenty.
“Thanks to the warm summer, the apple harvest was bountiful.”
synonyms: plentiful, generous
bountiful is a quality of plenty.
Bounty plus -ful, from Old French bonté, goodness, from Latin bonitas, from bonus, good. Bonus, bonny and boon come from the same goodness.
Latin
bonitās
Old French
bonté
Anglo-Norman
bounté
Middle English
bounte — goodness, virtue; beauty; strength; chivalry, valour; excellence; kindness, mercy; good deed; generosity
English
bounty
English, today
bountiful
From bounty + ful. bounty comes from Middle English bounte (“goodness, virtue; beauty; strength; chivalry, valour; excellence; kindness, mercy; good deed; generosity”)bonte, bontie, bount, bounte, bountee, bountie, bownte, bunte, bwnte, borrowed from Anglo-Norman bounté and Old French bonté, bontet, bunté (modern French bonté (“goodness, kindness”)), from Latin bonitās.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA