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# bijou

«bijou» in Mova's school dictionary: **small and elegant, used about a house or flat; it is…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

adjective (bijou); noun (a bijou, bijoux — rare)

### meaning for a pupil

1) (UK, mostly estate agents' language) Bijou means small and elegant, used about a house or flat; it is often a euphemism for "very small". [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bijou/#m1)

2) (rare noun) A bijou is a small jewel or a pretty trinket; it is the French word for jewel. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bijou/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In everyday British life, house adverts say "a bijou cottage" or "bijou flat" to make a tiny home sound charming. Readers often understand it as "too small". In stories it can sound posh or funny. Phrases: bijou flat, bijou residence, bijou cottage.

### examples

- The advert said "bijou flat", which meant it was tiny. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bijou/#x1)
- They live in a bijou cottage by the sea. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bijou/#x2)
- "Bijou" is a nice way of saying the house is small. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bijou/#x3)
- The café is bijou but very cosy. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bijou/#x4)
- Grandma keeps a little bijou on a chain. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bijou/#x5)
- The "bijou residence" turned out to be one room. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bijou/#x6)

### note

Pronounced "BEE-zhoo". From French. Mostly British. It is a euphemism: estate agents use it to avoid saying "small". Plural of the noun: bijoux.

### In the corpora

- ["Bijou" in a house advert means tiny (mostly UK).](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents/19/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «bijou» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bijou/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.