bonsái

[bõnˈsaj]

/[bõnˈsaj]/ noun

The verdict

“bonsái” is uncommon Spanish (frequency #79,825 among 2,459 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#79,825
frequency rank, Spanish
2,459
“B” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Arte de cultivar árboles y plantas, normalmente arbustos, controlando su tamaño para que permanezcan de un tamaño muy inferior al natural.

Corpus desk

Index ES-bonsai · bonsái · Spanish

bonsái · rank #79,825 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #79,825
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,459
  • PHOTO-FINISH bonachón

Nearest frequency peer: bonachón (-2 rank slots)

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.

Rangos de cola larga cerca de “bonsái”

Banda escasa: las barras invierten el rango para que lo raro se lea más corto

corpus weight

What this shows Vista de cola larga: dónde “bonsái” se sitúa frente a rangos españoles igualmente raros.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for bonsái
PropertyValue
Headwordbonsái
LanguageSpanish
Part of speechNoun
IPA[bõnˈsaj]
Letters6
Frequency rank#79,825
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Cola larga: rango de “bonsái” en español

La frecuencia va del puñado de palabras que usamos sin parar (izquierda) a la cola larga que apenas aparece (derecha).bonsáicae en esta cola de rareza:

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

Los ticks avanzan en logaritmo; cada uno es del orden de diez veces más raro. Vecinos raros de la misma franja: “bonachón” (#79,823), “borraría” (#79,828), “bizcochuelo” (#79,819). Entre 2,459 lemas con “B”, “bonsái” va en #79,825. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

bonsái is uncommon Spanish at frequency #79,825 among 2,459 “B” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [bõnˈsaj]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for bonsái, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct Spanish form is bonsái, spelled B-O-N-S-Á-I.

Definition

  1. 1
    Arte de cultivar árboles y plantas, normalmente arbustos, controlando su tamaño para que permanezcan de un tamaño muy inferior al natural.
  2. 2
    Planta que es el resultado de practicar el arte y la técnica bonsái.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how bonsái appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. No crean que no tengo el temple de un samurái Ni que mi cerebro es del tamaño de un bonsái Aunque se que hoy estoy en offside No parece pero aquí adentro tengo un Intel Inside

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 Spanish corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "bonsái"?
"bonsái" is spelled B-O-N-S-Á-I. The IPA pronunciation is [bõnˈsaj].
What does "bonsái" mean?
As a noun, "bonsái" means: Arte de cultivar árboles y plantas, normalmente arbustos, controlando su tamaño para que permanezcan de un tamaño muy inferior al natural.
How do you pronounce "bonsái"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "bonsái" is [bõnˈsaj]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "bonsái" come from?
"bonsái" is a Spanish word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 Spanish words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Spanish headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list