wasabi

\wa.za.bi\

/\wa.za.bi\/ noun

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

The verdict

“wasabi” is uncommon French (frequency #58,357 among 549 “W” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#58,357
frequency rank, French
549
“W” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Plante, Eutrema japonicum (Wasabia japonica), de la famille des Brassicacées, originaire du Japon, utilisée comme condiment dans la cuisine japonaise et dont la saveur piquante est produite par la ...

Corpus desk

Index FR-wasabi · wasabi · French

wasabi · rank #58,357 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #58,357
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 549
  • PHOTO-FINISH véganisme

Nearest frequency peer: véganisme (-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 « wasabi »

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 « wasabi » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for wasabi
PropertyValue
Headwordwasabi
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\wa.za.bi\
Letters6
Frequency rank#58,357
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « wasabi » en français

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

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Voisins rares de la même bande: « véganisme » (#58,356), « Wattrelos » (#58,358), « voyiez » (#58,355). Parmi 549 lemmes en « W », « wasabi » est au #58,357. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

wasabi is uncommon French at frequency #58,357 among 549 “W” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \wa.za.bi\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for wasabi, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is wasabi, spelled W-A-S-A-B-I.

Definition

  1. 1
    Plante, Eutrema japonicum (Wasabia japonica), de la famille des Brassicacées, originaire du Japon, utilisée comme condiment dans la cuisine japonaise et dont la saveur piquante est produite par la présence d'isothiocyanate d’allyle et de son précurseur la sinigrine
  2. 2
    Condiment japonais fait à partir de cette plante.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Cette start-up, installée à Château-Thierry (Aisne), à une centaine de kilomètres au nord-est de Paris, et cofondée par Gilles Dreyfus et Nicolas Séguy, produit, dans un grand hangar, des herbes aromatiques (basilic, persil, coriandre…), des micropousses (moutarde, wasabi…) et des salades (laitue, roquette).
  2. Décoiffant, le tiramisu de Pierre Hermé, aux écorces de pamplemousse rose, jus de citron, wasabi frais râpé, poivre de Sarawak et thé vert !

This word in other languages

wasabi(English)

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 "wasabi"?
"wasabi" is spelled W-A-S-A-B-I. The IPA pronunciation is \wa.za.bi\.
What does "wasabi" mean?
As a noun, "wasabi" means: Plante, Eutrema japonicum (Wasabia japonica), de la famille des Brassicacées, originaire du Japon, utilisée comme condiment dans la cuisine japonaise et dont la saveur piquante est produite par la ...
How do you pronounce "wasabi"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "wasabi" is \wa.za.bi\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "wasabi" come from?
"wasabi" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "wasabi", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

voyiez#58,355Voulzy#58,354volera#58,351XVIème#58,366

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list