pro bono
/prəʊ ˈbəʊnəʊ/
"pro-bono" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pro bono” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a prep_phrase. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Without charging a fee, done without fee, generally for clients or patients of limited means.
Corpus desk
Index EN-pro-bono · pro bono · English
pro bono · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "P" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | pro bono |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Prep_phrase |
| IPA | /prəʊ ˈbəʊnəʊ/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “pro bono” in English
Rare enough to double-check
pro bono is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as aprep_phrase, transcribed /prəʊ ˈbəʊnəʊ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Without charging a fee, done without fee, generally for clients or patients of limited means.".
Zero misspellings are on record for pro bono in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Abbreviated from Latin prō bonō publicō (“for the public good”). The correct English form is pro bono, spelled P-R-O- -B-O-N-O.
Definition
- 1Without charging a fee, done without fee, generally for clients or patients of limited means.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how pro bono appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The firm currently has about half a dozen pro bono cases at any one time.
After he retired, he offered representation pro bono from time to time.
Etymology
Abbreviated from Latin prō bonō publicō (“for the public good”).
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.