Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

sayonara

/ˌsaɪəˈnɑːɹə/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.37 in modern English

Syllables: say-onara
IPA: /ˌsaɪəˈnɑːɹə/

11

Scrabble Score

8

Letters

2

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

intj

Goodbye, adios, adieu.

Humorous; Informal

noun

An utterance of sayonara, the wishing of farewell to someone.

Example Sentences

"Sonic: Sayonara! Shadow the Hedgehog!"
"After a simply marvelous, entertaining two and a half hour meal, they reclaimed their shoes and ceremoniously bid their sayonaras to the Japanese girls."

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese さようなら (sayōnara, “farewell”, literally “if that's the way it is”) or its shorter, less traditional form さよなら (sayonara).

Origin

Source language: Japanese

Word Breakdown

Root: さようなら

Usage

Inflected Forms

sayōnara (alternative) sayonaras (plural)

Synonyms

adieu adios arrivederci auf Wiedersehen au revoir bye bye-bye cheerio cheers ciao farewell goodbye

Rhymes With

sara para clara santa clara tara lara mara sahara tamara dara guadalajara bara

Questions

How do you pronounce sayonara?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˌsaɪəˈnɑːɹə/.
What does sayonara mean?: Goodbye, adios, adieu.
Where does sayonara come from?: It is traced to Japanese.

How to pronounce sayonara

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “sayonara”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˌsaɪəˈnɑːɹə/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “sayonara”.
Repeat and practice — Say “sayonara” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.