What does "bondi" mean?

The city bus.

Country: 🇦🇷 Argentina
Say it: BOHN-dee
Register: Friends & informal

How it's actually used

Everyday Buenos Aires: *tomar el bondi*, catch the bus. You will also hear *se armó un bondi* for "a fight broke out" — a whole second meaning of trouble or commotion.

Examples

Me tomo el bondi hasta el centro. I’ll take the bus downtown.
Se armó un bondi en la cancha. A brawl kicked off at the stadium.

Where it comes from

From Brazilian Portuguese *bonde*, the old streetcar — itself from the English "bond" on the tram company’s shares.

Before you say it

Argentina and Uruguay only. Elsewhere it is *bus*, *camión*, *guagua* or *micro*.

Now actually use it out loud

Reading a definition isn't the same as saying it to someone. Lingo Kaiava is a voice tutor set to Argentine Spanish — it uses bondi the way locals do, corrects you in the moment, and never "fixes" the way real people actually talk into textbook Argentine Spanish.