bonsai

American  

[bahn-zahy, bahn-zahy, bohn-, -sahy] / ˈbɑn zaɪ, bɑnˈzaɪ, boʊn-, -saɪ /

noun

plural

bonsai

1. a tree or shrub that has been dwarfed, as by pruning the roots and pinching, and is grown in a pot or other container and trained to produce a desired shape or effect.

2. the art or hobby of developing and growing such a plant or plants.

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bonsai British  

/ ˈbɒnsaɪ /

noun

1. the art of growing dwarfed ornamental varieties of trees or shrubs in small shallow pots or trays by selective pruning, etc

2. a tree or shrub grown by this method

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Etymology

Origin of bonsai

1945–50; < Japanese bon-sai tray planting < Middle Chinese, equivalent to Chinese pén tray + zāi plant, shoot

Example Sentences

PrismML’s Bonsai 8B model reduces memory to 1 gigabyte, boosts processing speeds by eight times, and raised $16.25 million.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 31, 2026

Bonsai 8B is an 8-billion parameter large language model, trained using Google v4 TPUs.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 31, 2026

Bonsai owners can reach out to those in their area to see if they would accept donations.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 11, 2024

The American Bonsai Society offers memberships that include discounts and a subscription to its journal, as well as links to significant bonsai collections in nearly every state.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 11, 2024

Through the glass windows of the exit doors, I could see the headmaster, Mr. Bonsai, wrestling with the lode, a crowd of teachers piling up behind him.

From "The Sea of Monsters" by Rick Riordan