menos mal
[ˈmenos ˈmal]
The verdict
“menos mal” is uncommon Spanish (outside the top frequency list), classed as a phrase. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency Spanish
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Expresión que denota alivio por no haber ocurrido algo malo que se temía.
Corpus desk
Index ES-menos-mal · menos mal · Spanish
menos mal · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "M" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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 | menos mal |
| Language | Spanish |
| Part of speech | Phrase |
| IPA | [ˈmenos ˈmal] |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Cola larga: rango de “menos mal” en español
Rare enough to double-check
menos mal is uncommon Spanish outside the top frequency list, classed as aphrase, transcribed [ˈmenos ˈmal]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for menos mal, suggesting the orthography follows predictable Spanish patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct Spanish form is menos mal, spelled M-E-N-O-S- -M-A-L.
Definition
- 1Expresión que denota alivio por no haber ocurrido algo malo que se temía.
- 2Acompañado de la conjunción que, denota incongruencia entre lo que se espera y lo que se hace.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how menos mal appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Se te quemó el arroz. Menos mal que eres gastrónomo profesional (!).
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.