bi
/baɪ/adjective, noun
bi is spelled B-I: 2 letters and one syllable. It appears 11 times per million words in written English, the 6,674th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, bi means “Clipping of bisexual” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in bi?
| Letters | 2: B-I |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 11 times per million words; the 6,674th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is bi?
Bi appears 11 times per million words in written English, the 6,674th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce bi?
- /baɪ/
As a noun (“A type of jade disk produced in ancient China”): /biː/.
Bi has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-bi.ogg, En-us-bee.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Flame,_not_lame-bi-.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with bi
Sounds like: buy, by, bye (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with bi?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as bi from its last stressed vowel (/i/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of bi
- bis plural
- pi
- bin-
- bis-
- bir-
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does bi mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
slangClipping of bisexual.
I'm straight, but my oldest sister is bi.
- 2
slangClipping of bigender.
noun
- 1
colloquialA biceps muscle.
You cannot train your back without regard to your tris and bis.
- 2
A type of jade disk produced in ancient China.
- 3
slangClipping of bisexual: A bisexual person.
noun
- 1
Initialism of business interruption.
- 2
Initialism of business informatics.
- 3
Initialism of business intelligence.
- 4
slangInitialism of bad influence.
- 5
Initialism of burning index.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Bi in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | bi , bi- |
| German | bi , bi-, zwei- |
| Portuguese | gilete, bi , bi- |
| Spanish | bi , bi-, bis-, biz- |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.