bonito
"bonito" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bonito” is uncommon English (frequency #52,816 among 4,121 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #52,816
- frequency rank, English
- 4,121
- “B” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Any of various marine fish of the genus Sarda that are related to and resemble the tuna, but smaller.
Corpus desk
Index EN-bonito · bonito · English
bonito · rank #52,816 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #52,816
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,121
- PHOTO-FINISH boning
Nearest frequency peer: boning (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
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.
Long-tail ranks near “bonito”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- bogeyman
bogeyman
47,188 corpus weight
- boney
boney
47,187 corpus weight
- boning
boning
47,186 corpus weight
- bonito
bonito
47,185 corpus weight
- bork
bork
47,184 corpus weight
- botnet
botnet
47,183 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “bonito” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | bonito |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #52,816 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “bonito” in English
Rare enough to double-check
bonito is uncommon English at frequency #52,816 among 4,121 “B” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
bonito doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Spanish bonito. The correct English form is bonito, spelled B-O-N-I-T-O.
Definition
- 1Any of various marine fish of the genus Sarda that are related to and resemble the tuna, but smaller.
- 2A large tropical fish of species Katsuwonus pelamis (skipjack tuna), allied to the tunny.
- 3The medregal (Seriola fasciata), an edible fish of the southern United States and the West Indies.
- 4The cobia or crab eater (Rachycentron canadum), an edible fish of warm waters globally.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how bonito appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Mr Scott, the chief mate, being a capital fisherman, the table was almost daily furnished with an albacore, bonito, or dolphin, and not unfrequently with all three, which he struck with a gig.
Making dashi is simple once you have katsuobushi (shaved, dried bonito flakes) and kombu (sea kelp), which have become increasingly easy to find across the United States. (You can also order them online.)
Etymology
Borrowed from Spanish bonito.
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 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "bonito", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).