Buenos Aires

English

Alternative forms

• Buenos Ayres (archaic)

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish Buenos Aires, named after an epithet of the Virgin Mary, itself ultimately derived from Aragonese buen ayre (literally “good air”) or derived from Sardinian bonaria. The first English attestation dates to 1764.

Pronunciation

• enPR: bwā′nəs âr′ēz, -ī′rĭz, bwĕ′nōs ī′rĕs
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbweɪ.nəs ˈɛə.ɹiːz/, /-ˈaɪ.ɹɪz/, /ˈbwɛ.nəʊs ˈaɪ.ɹɛs/

  Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈbweɪ.nəs ˈɛɹ.iz/, /-ˈaɪ.ɹɪz/, /ˈbwɛ.noʊs ˈaɪ.ɹɛs/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈbwæɪ.nəs ˈeː.iːz/, /-ˈɑe.ɹɪz/, /ˈbwe.nəʉs ˈɑe.ɹes/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈbwæɪ.nəs ˈeə̯.iːz/, /-ˈaɪ.ɹəz/, /ˈbwe.nɐʉs ˈaɪ.ɹes/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈbwe.nəs ˈer.iz/, /-ˈaɪ.ɹɪz/, /ˈbwɛ.nos ˈaɪ.ɹɛs/
• (India) IPA^(key): /ˈbweː.nos ˈeːʳ.iːz/, /-ˈaj.ɾiz/, /ˈbwe.noːs ˈaj.ɾes/
• Hyphenation: Bue‧nos Ai‧res

Proper noun

Buenos Aires

1. The capital city of Argentina.
   • 2024 October 16, Dan Heching, Manuela Castro, Mauricio Torres, Alli Rosenbloom and Christian Edwards, “Liam Payne, former One Direction member, dies after hotel balcony fall”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     Liam Payne, a former member of the boyband One Direction, has died after falling from the third floor of a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, according to local police. Payne, who was 31, leaves behind his seven-year-old son, Bear.

2. The largest and most populous province in Argentina, part of the Pampas region. Capital city: La Plata.

Derived terms

• Little Buenos Aires

Translations

capital of Argentina

• Akan: Buenɔs Aires
• Arabic: بْوِينُس آيْرِس f (bwīnus ʔāyris)
• Armenian: Բուենոս Այրես (hy) (Buenos Ayres)
• Asturian: Buenos Aires (ast)
• Belarusian: Буэ́нас-А́йрэс m (Buénas-Ájres)
• Bengali: বুয়েনোস আইরেস (bn) (buẏenōs aires)
• Bulgarian: Буе́нос А́йрес m (Buénos Ájres)
• Catalan: Buenos Aires (ca) ?
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 布宜諾斯艾利斯 / 布宜诺斯艾利斯 (zh) (Bùyínuòsī-Àilìsī)

• Czech: Buenos Aires (cs) n
• Danish: Buenos Aires n
• Dutch: Buenos Aires (nl) n
• Esperanto: Bonaero (eo)
• Farefare: Buenos Aires
• Finnish: Buenos Aires (fi)
• French: Buenos Aires (fr) ?
• Georgian: ბუენოს-აირესი (buenos-airesi)
• German: Buenos Aires (de) n
• Greek: Μπουένος Άιρες (el) n (Bouénos Áires)
• Hebrew: בּוּאֶנוֹס אַיְרֶס \ בואנוס איירס f
• Hindi: ब्यूनस आयर्स m (byūnas āyars)
• Hungarian: Buenos Aires (hu)
• Italian: Buenos Aires (it) f
• Japanese: ブエノスアイレス (ja) (Buenosuairesu)
• Khmer: ប៊ុយណូស៊ែ (km) (buynousɛɛ), ប៊ុយណូស៊ែរ (buynousɛɛ)
• Korean: 부에노스 아이레스 (Buenoseu Aireseu), 붸노스 애레스 (Bwenoseu Aereseu)
• Latin: Bonaēropolis ?
• Latvian: Buenos Aires
• Lithuanian: Buenos Airės f
• Maltese: Bwenos Ajres f
• Marathi: बुएनोस आइरेस n (buenos āires)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: Буэнос-Айрес (mn) (Buenos-Ajres)

• Norman: Bouonézâr ? (Jersey)
• Pannonian Rusyn: Буенос Айрес m (Buenos Ajres)
• Persian: بوئنوس آیرس (bu'enus âyres)
• Polish: Buenos Aires (pl) n
• Portuguese: Buenos Aires (pt) f
• Russian: Буэ́нос-А́йрес (ru) m (Buénos-Ájres)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Буенос Ајрес m

  Latin: Buenos Aires (sh) m

• Sinhalese: බුවනෝස් අයර්ස් (buwanōs ayars)
• Spanish: Buenos Aires (es) ?
• Swedish: Buenos Aires (sv) n
• Thai: บัวโนสไอเรส (buua-nóos-ai-rées)
• Ukrainian: Буе́нос-А́йрес (uk) m (Buénos-Ájres)
• Urdu: بیونس آئرس m
• Vietnamese: Lương Phong, Bu-ê-nốt Ai-rết
• Yiddish: בוענאָס־אײַרעס ? (buenos-ayres)

Further reading

• John Nourse (Londres) (1764). Navigation Or, the Art of Sailing Upon the Sea: Containing a Demonstration of the Fundamental Principles of this Art Together with All the Practical Rules of Computing a Ship's Way Both by Plain Sailing, Mercator, and Middel Latitude Founded Upon the Foregoing Principles with Many Other Useful Things Hereto Belonging to which are Added Several Necessary Tables.

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [buˌe.nuˈzaj.ɾəs]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [buˌe.noˈzaj.ɾəs]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [buˌe.noˈzaj.ɾes]

NB each component gets its secondary stress, and then the voicing of s at the end of buenos.

Proper noun

Buenos Aires ?

1. Buenos Aires (the capital city of Argentina)
2. Buenos Aires (a province of Argentina)

Central Nahuatl

Proper noun

Buenos Aires

1. Buenos Aires (the capital city of Argentina)

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [buɛnos ajrɛs]
• Hyphenation: Bue‧nos Ai‧res

Proper noun

Buenos Aires n (indeclinable, relational adjective buenosaireský)

1. Buenos Aires (the capital city of Argentina)
2. Buenos Aires (a province of Argentina)

Further reading

• “Buenos Aires”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2026

Danish

Proper noun

Buenos Aires

1. Buenos Aires (the capital city of Argentina)
2. Buenos Aires (a province of Argentina)

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish Buenos Aires.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbʏeː.nɔs ˈaːi.rəs/, /ˌbʏɛ-/, /-reːs/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Bue‧nos Ai‧res

Proper noun

Buenos Aires n

1. Buenos Aires (the capital city of Argentina)
2. Buenos Aires (a province of Argentina)

French

Alternative forms

• (dated) Buenos-Ayres

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɥe.nɔ.z‿ɛʁ/
• (proscribed) IPA^(key): /bwe.no.z‿ɛʁ/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Proper noun

Buenos Aires ?

1. Buenos Aires (the capital city of Argentina)

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌbu̯ɛnɔsˈʔaɪ̯rəs/, [buˌɛ-], [ˌbʋɛ-], [-ʁəs]
• IPA^(key): /ˌbɔnɔs-/ (simplified; somewhat common)
• IPA^(key): /ˌbu̯eːnɔs-/ (rare)

  • Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

    (file)

Proper noun

Buenos Aires n (proper noun, genitive Buenos Aires' or (with an article) Buenos Aires)

1. Buenos Aires (the capital city of Argentina)
2. Buenos Aires (a province of Argentina)

Declension

Declension of Buenos Aires [sg-only, neuter, toponym]

	singular
	def.	noun
nominative	das	Buenos Aires
genitive	des	Buenos Aires', Buenos Aires1
dative	dem	Buenos Aires
accusative	das	Buenos Aires

¹With an article.

Polish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Spanish Buenos Airesbor.

Polish Buenos Aires

Borrowed from Spanish Buenos Aires.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbwɛ.nɔs ˈaj.rɛs/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Syllabification: Bue‧nos Ai‧res

Proper noun

Buenos Aires n (indeclinable)

1. Buenos Aires (the capital city of Argentina)
2. Buenos Aires (a province of Argentina)

Further reading

• “Buenos Aires”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[2] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “Buenos Aires”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[3] (in Polish)

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /buˈɛ̃.nuz ˈaj.ɾis/ [bʊˈɛ̃.nuz ˈaɪ̯.ɾis], (faster pronunciation) /ˈbwɛ̃.nuz ˈaj.ɾis/ [ˈbwɛ̃.nuz ˈaɪ̯.ɾis]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /buˈɛ̃.nuz ˈaj.ɾis/ [bʊˈɛ̃.nuz ˈaɪ̯.ɾis], (faster pronunciation) /ˈbwɛ̃.nuz ˈaj.ɾis/ [ˈbwɛ̃.nuz ˈaɪ̯.ɾis]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /buˈɛ̃.nuz ˈaj.ɾiʃ/ [bʊˈɛ̃.nuz ˈaɪ̯.ɾiʃ], (faster pronunciation) /ˈbwɛ̃.nuz ˈaj.ɾiʃ/ [ˈbwɛ̃.nuz ˈaɪ̯.ɾiʃ]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /buˈɛ.noz ˈaj.ɾes/ [bʊˈɛ.noz ˈaɪ̯.ɾes], (faster pronunciation) /ˈbwɛ.noz ˈaj.ɾes/ [ˈbwɛ.noz ˈaɪ̯.ɾes]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈbwɛ.nuz ˈaj.ɾɨʃ/

• Hyphenation: Bué‧nos Ai‧res

Proper noun

Buenos Aires ?

1. Buenos Aires (the capital city of Argentina)
2. Buenos Aires (a province of Argentina)

Slovak

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /buenɔz ajres/, [ˈbuenɔz ˈaɪ̯res]
• Rhymes: -ajres
• Hyphenation: Bu‧e‧nos Ai‧res

Proper noun

Buenos Aires n (indeclinable)

1. Buenos Aires (the capital of Argentina)

Further reading

• “Buenos Aires”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2026

Spanish

Etymology

Named after an epithet of the Virgin Mary, ultimately derived from Aragonese buen ayre (literally “good air”) or derived from Sardinian bonaria.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌbwenos ˈaiɾes/ [ˌbwe.nos ˈai̯.ɾes]
• Syllabification: Bue‧nos Ai‧res

Proper noun

Buenos Aires ?

1. Buenos Aires (the capital city of Argentina)

   Synonym: Bs. As.

   • 2024 October 17, CNN, “En imágenes: algunos episodios de la vida de Liam Payne”, in CNN en Español‎^[4]:

     El cantante Liam Payne murió a los 31 años tras caer desde el tercer piso de un hotel de Buenos Aires, Argentina, informó la policía local.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. Buenos Aires (a province of Argentina)

Derived terms

• bonaerense

Further reading

• “Buenos Aires”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

Swedish

Proper noun

Buenos Aires n (genitive Buenos Aires)

1. Buenos Aires (the capital city of Argentina)
2. Buenos Aires (a province of Argentina)