bikini
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
6 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "bikini", 6-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "bikini" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "bikini" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
bikini is aEnglishnoun. It means: A brief two-piece bathing suit worn by women, especially one that exposes the midriff and navel. Pronounced /bɪˈkiː.ni/. Often confused with biting and Birkin.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | bikini |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /bɪˈkiː.ni/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #11,172 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for bikini is 6 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /bɪˈkiː.ni/. Corpus data places it at rank #11,172 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 8 documented wrong-spelling variants for bikini, with forms such as "bbikini", "biikni", and "bikiin". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 4 confusable-pair relationships, "biting", "Birkin", "baking", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Marshallese pik Marshallese ni Marshallese Pikinnibor. German Bikinibor. English Bikinibor. French Bikini French bikinibor. English bikini From French bikini, named after the place name Bikini, from English Bikini, the name of the atoll where… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is bikini, spelled B-I-K-I-N-I, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A brief two-piece bathing suit worn by women, especially one that exposes the midriff and navel.
- 2A brief bathing suit covering only the pelvis (equivalent to the bottom portion of a two-piece bikini), worn by any gender.
- 3Brief underpants or trousers that reach to the hips rather than the waist.
Etymology
Etymology tree Marshallese pik Marshallese ni Marshallese Pikinnibor. German Bikinibor. English Bikinibor. French Bikini French bikinibor. English bikini From French bikini, named after the place name Bikini, from English Bikini, the name of the atoll where the United States tested nuclear weapons in July 1946; it was reckoned that the bathing suit would cause as much excitement as a nuclear bomb. This name was originally from German Bikini, the colonial name of the atoll as part of German New Guinea, and this was derived from Marshallese Pikinni.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: bbikini,biikni,bikiin,bikinni,bikkini,biknii,bkiini,ibkini
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for bikini
Misspelling Variants of "bikini"
Frequency rank: #11,172 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter B in our English index: