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hakuna-matata

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

13 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "hakuna-matata", 13-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 "hakuna-matata" 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 "hakuna-matata" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

hakuna matata is aEnglishphrase. It means: No worries, take it easy. Pronounced /həˈkunə məˈtɑtə/.

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Key facts for hakuna matata
PropertyValue
Headwordhakuna matata
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechPhrase
IPA/həˈkunə məˈtɑtə/
Letters13
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

hakuna matata is not present in the top-100,000 ranked English corpus, typical for technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary.

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for hakuna matata is 13 letters long, classified as aphrase, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /həˈkunə məˈtɑtə/. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader.The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "No worries, take it easy.".

No frequent misspelling variants are recorded for hakuna matata in our index, suggesting the orthography either follows predictable English patterns or the word is uncommon enough that typo corpora lack signal.It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Swahili hakuna matata (“there are no problems”). Popularized in English by the 1994 Disney film The Lion King. 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 hakuna matata, spelled H-A-K-U-N-A- -M-A-T-A-T-A, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    No worries, take it easy.

Etymology

From Swahili hakuna matata (“there are no problems”). Popularized in English by the 1994 Disney film The Lion King.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "hakuna matata"?
"hakuna matata" is spelled H-A-K-U-N-A- -M-A-T-A-T-A. The IPA pronunciation is /həˈkunə məˈtɑtə/.
What does "hakuna matata" mean?
As a phrase, "hakuna matata" means: No worries, take it easy.
How do you pronounce "hakuna matata"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "hakuna matata" is /həˈkunə məˈtɑtə/. 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 "hakuna matata"?
From Swahili hakuna matata (“there are no problems”). Popularized in English by the 1994 Disney film The Lion King. 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.

Nearby English words

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.