bikini
/bɪˈki.ni/noun
bikini is spelled B-I-K-I-N-I: 6 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 5.0 times per million words in written English, the 11,198th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, bikini means “A brief, often minimalistic two-piece bathing suit worn by women, especially one that exposes the midriff and navel” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of bikini is bikinis.
How many letters and syllables are in bikini?
| Letters | 6: B-I-K-I-N-I |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 5.0 times per million words; the 11,198th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| 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 bikini?
Bikini appears 5.0 times per million words in written English, the 11,198th 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 bikini?
- UK /bɪˈkiː.ni/
- US /bɪˈki.ni/
- /bɪˈki.ne/
Bikini has 3 syllables (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-bikini.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with bikini?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as bikini from its last stressed vowel (/ini/):
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 bikini
- bikinis plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does bikini mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A brief, often minimalistic two-piece bathing suit worn by women, especially one that exposes the midriff and navel.
- 2
A brief bathing suit covering only the pelvis (equivalent to the bottom portion of a two-piece bikini), worn by any gender.
- 3
Brief underpants or trousers that reach to the hips rather than the waist and have high cut leg holes.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Bikini in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense bathing suit:
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.
Where does bikini come from?
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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).