bushido

/buˈʃi.doʊ/

//buˈʃi.doʊ// noun

"bushido" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“bushido” is uncommon English (frequency #68,069 among 4,121 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#68,069
frequency rank, English
4,121
“B” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An ethical code of the samurai that was prevalent in feudal Japan that advocated unquestioning loyalty to the master at all costs and obedience in all deeds, valuing honor above life.

Corpus desk

Index EN-bushido · bushido · English

bushido · rank #68,069 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #68,069
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,121
  • PHOTO-FINISH bunkhouse

Nearest frequency peer: bunkhouse (-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 “bushido”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “bushido” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for bushido
PropertyValue
Headwordbushido
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/buˈʃi.doʊ/
Letters7
Frequency rank#68,069
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “bushido” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).bushidofalls in this rarity band:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “bunkhouse” (#68,068), “Byun” (#68,071), “calabrese” (#68,074). Among 4,121 “B” headwords, “bushido” is #68,069. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

bushido is uncommon English at frequency #68,069 among 4,121 “B” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /buˈʃi.doʊ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "An ethical code of the samurai that was prevalent in feudal Japan that advocated unquestioning loyalty to the master at all costs and obedience in all deeds, valuing honor above life.".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for bushido, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Japanese 武(ぶ)士(し)道(どう) (bushidō), from Middle Chinese 武士 (mju^X dzri^X, “warrior”) + 道 (daw^X, “way”). Cognate with Mandarin 武士 (wǔshì) and Cantonese 武士 (mou⁵ si⁶). The correct English form is bushido, spelled B-U-S-H-I-D-O.

Definition

  1. 1
    An ethical code of the samurai that was prevalent in feudal Japan that advocated unquestioning loyalty to the master at all costs and obedience in all deeds, valuing honor above life.

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 武(ぶ)士(し)道(どう) (bushidō), from Middle Chinese 武士 (mju^X dzri^X, “warrior”) + 道 (daw^X, “way”). Cognate with Mandarin 武士 (wǔshì) and Cantonese 武士 (mou⁵ si⁶).

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

How do you spell "bushido"?
"bushido" is spelled B-U-S-H-I-D-O. The IPA pronunciation is /buˈʃi.doʊ/.
What does "bushido" mean?
As a noun, "bushido" means: An ethical code of the samurai that was prevalent in feudal Japan that advocated unquestioning loyalty to the master at all costs and obedience in all deeds, valuing honor above life.
How do you pronounce "bushido"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "bushido" is /buˈʃi.doʊ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "bushido"?
Borrowed from Japanese 武(ぶ)士(し)道(どう) (bushidō), from Middle Chinese 武士 (mju^X dzri^X, “warrior”) + 道 (daw^X, “way”). Cognate with Mandarin 武士 (wǔshì) and Cantonese 武士 (mou⁵ si⁶). See the full etymology section above for more details.
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 English words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list