Bongo

[ˈbɔŋɡo]

/[ˈbɔŋɡo]/ noun

The verdict

“Bongo” is uncommon German (frequency #62,260 among 5,818 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#62,260
frequency rank, German
5,818
“B” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - kubanisches Musikinstrument, bestehend aus zwei kleinen Trommeln

Corpus desk

Index DE-bongo · Bongo · German

Bongo · rank #62,260 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #62,260
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,818
  • PHOTO-FINISH Bonaventura

Nearest frequency peer: Bonaventura (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Langschwanz-Ränge nahe „Bongo“

Dünnes Band: Balken invertieren den Rang, seltenere Formen wirken kürzer

corpus weight

What this shows Langschwanz-Sicht: wo „Bongo“ gegen ähnlich seltene deutsche Ränge sitzt.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for Bongo
PropertyValue
HeadwordBongo
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[ˈbɔŋɡo]
Letters5
Frequency rank#62,260
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „Bongo“ im Deutschen

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).Bongofällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „Bonaventura“ (#62,259), „boule“ (#62,261), „bohrte“ (#62,258). Unter 5,818 „B“-Lemmata liegt „Bongo“ bei #62,260. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Bongo is uncommon German at frequency #62,260 among 5,818 “B” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [ˈbɔŋɡo]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "kubanisches Musikinstrument, bestehend aus zwei kleinen Trommeln".

No misspelling variants are generated for Bongo in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable German rules. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

No documented word history exists for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct German form is Bongo, spelled B-O-N-G-O.

Definition

  1. 1
    kubanisches Musikinstrument, bestehend aus zwei kleinen Trommeln

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how Bongo appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Sie spielte die Bongo wie eine Göttin.
  2. „Hier schlägt er kurz die Becken an, dort ertönt ein Wirbel auf den Bongos, mit den Füßen bearbeitet er derweil die Bassdrums und rührt dazu in seinen Trommeln, daß das Auge kaum folgen kann.“

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Bongo"?
"Bongo" is spelled B-O-N-G-O. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈbɔŋɡo].
What does "Bongo" mean?
As a noun, "Bongo" means: kubanisches Musikinstrument, bestehend aus zwei kleinen Trommeln
How do you pronounce "Bongo"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Bongo" is [ˈbɔŋɡo]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Bongo" come from?
"Bongo" is a German word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Bongo", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list