sayonara

\ˌsaɪ.ə.ˈnɑː.ɹə\

/\ˌsaɪ.ə.ˈnɑː.ɹə\/ intj

The verdict

“sayonara” is uncommon French (frequency #83,363 among 6,032 “S” headwords), classed as an interjection. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#83,363
frequency rank, French
6,032
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Au revoir, adieu.

Corpus desk

Index FR-sayonara · sayonara · French

sayonara · rank #83,363 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #83,363
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,032
  • PHOTO-FINISH sauveuse

Nearest frequency peer: sauveuse (-1 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.

Rangs de longue queue près de « sayonara »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « sayonara » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for sayonara
PropertyValue
Headwordsayonara
LanguageFrench
Part of speechInterjection
IPA\ˌsaɪ.ə.ˈnɑː.ɹə\
Letters8
Frequency rank#83,363
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « sayonara » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).sayonaratombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Voisins rares de la même bande: « sauveuse » (#83,362), « schnell » (#83,364), « Schweizer » (#83,365). Parmi 6,032 lemmes en « S », « sayonara » est au #83,363. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

sayonara is uncommon French at frequency #83,363 among 6,032 “S” headwords, classed as aninterjection, transcribed \ˌsaɪ.ə.ˈnɑː.ɹə\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Au revoir, adieu.".

No misspelling variants are generated for sayonara in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is sayonara, spelled S-A-Y-O-N-A-R-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    Au revoir, adieu.

Synonyms

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

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "sayonara"?
"sayonara" is spelled S-A-Y-O-N-A-R-A. The IPA pronunciation is \ˌsaɪ.ə.ˈnɑː.ɹə\.
What does "sayonara" mean?
As an interjection, "sayonara" means: Au revoir, adieu.
How do you pronounce "sayonara"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "sayonara" is \ˌsaɪ.ə.ˈnɑː.ɹə\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "sayonara" come from?
"sayonara" is a French 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 French words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list