Zanzibar

noun

The verdict

“Zanzibar” is an uncommon Portuguese word, ranked #66,563 in Portuguese word frequency and used as a noun.

#66,563
frequency rank, Portuguese
8
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - conjunto de duas ilhas do arquipélago de Zanzibar, ao largo da costa da Tanzânia, na margem leste-africana

Key facts for Zanzibar
PropertyValue
HeadwordZanzibar
LanguagePortuguese
Part of speechNoun
Letters8
Frequency rank#66,563
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “Zanzibar” sits in Portuguese frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). Zanzibar lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The Portuguese entry for Zanzibar is 8 letters long, classified as a noun. Corpus data places it at rank #66,563 in overall Portuguese word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "conjunto de duas ilhas do arquipélago de Zanzibar, ao largo da costa da Tanzânia, na margem leste-africana".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for Zanzibar, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct Portuguese form is Zanzibar, spelled Z-A-N-Z-I-B-A-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    conjunto de duas ilhas do arquipélago de Zanzibar, ao largo da costa da Tanzânia, na margem leste-africana

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

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Zanzibar"?
"Zanzibar" is spelled Z-A-N-Z-I-B-A-R.
What does "Zanzibar" mean?
As a noun, "Zanzibar" means: conjunto de duas ilhas do arquipélago de Zanzibar, ao largo da costa da Tanzânia, na margem leste-africana
What language does "Zanzibar" come from?
"Zanzibar" is a Portuguese 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.

Using “Zanzibar”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct Portuguese spelling is Z-A-N-Z-I-B-A-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more Portuguese words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Portuguese words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list