Bonfire is not "good fire" from French bon — it is literally "bone fire," a medieval term for fires that burned bones, from plague clearances to pagan rituals.
A large outdoor fire built for celebration, warmth, or the disposal of rubbish. Traditionally associated with festivals and commemorations.
From Middle English bonefire (a fire of bones), literally a fire in which bones were burned. Originally referred to the burning of bones (animal or human) in open-air fires, later generalized to any large outdoor fire Key roots: bān (Old English: "bone"), fȳr (Old English: "fire"), *bʰeh₂- (Proto-Indo-European: "bone (uncertain)").
Bonfire is not "bon fire" (French for "good fire") — it is literally a "bone fire." Medieval bonefires were specifically fires in which bones were burned, either animal bones from butchering or, more grimly, human bones during plague clearances. A 1493 Catholic encyclopedia explicitly glosses the