vai

noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"vai" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“vai” is uncommon English (frequency #51,481 among 969 “V” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#51,481
frequency rank, English
969
“V” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Alternative spelling of bhai.

Corpus desk

Index EN-vai · vai · English

vai · rank #51,481 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #51,481
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 969
  • PHOTO-FINISH validly

Nearest frequency peer: validly (+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 “vai”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for vai
PropertyValue
Headwordvai
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters3
Frequency rank#51,481
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “vai” 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).vaifalls in this rarity band:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “validly” (#51,482), “Urals” (#51,479), “Valli” (#51,483). Among 969 “V” headwords, “vai” is #51,481. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

vai is uncommon English at frequency #51,481 among 969 “V” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Alternative spelling of bhai.".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for vai, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: Transliteration of Bengali ভাই (bhai). Doublet of bhai; see there for more doublets. The correct English form is vai, spelled V-A-I.

Definition

  1. 1
    Alternative spelling of bhai.

Etymology

Transliteration of Bengali ভাই (bhai). Doublet of bhai; see there for more doublets.

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 "vai"?
"vai" is spelled V-A-I.
What does "vai" mean?
As a noun, "vai" means: Alternative spelling of bhai.
What is the origin of the word "vai"?
Transliteration of Bengali ভাই (bhai). Doublet of bhai; see there for more doublets. 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 "vai", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

tro#51,461Zeb#51,517ABH#51,525Tcl#51,435

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list