# wannabe

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈwɒnəbi/ · frequency rank #20,813

## Definitions
1. Someone who wishes to be someone or do something, but lacks the qualifications or talent; an overeager amateur; an aspirant.
2. Someone who wishes to be part of, or to assimilate to, a majority group of which they are not a member.

## Etymology
Written form of a reduction of want to be, analysable as wanna + be. Wannabe can be considered a conversion, category change, or functional shift.
While occasionally appearing in print, usually as a less reduced phrase, the popularity of the word took off in the mid-1980s following the Madonna wannabe fashion trend: “wannabe”, in Google Books Ngram Viewer.

## Easily confused with
- **Watanabe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wannabe-vs-watanabe)
- **wanna** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wanna-vs-wannabe)

## Common misspellings (8)
`awnnabe`, `wanabe`, `wananbe`, `wannabbe`, `wannaeb`, `wannbae`, `wnanabe`, `wwannabe`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/wannabe