imaginary
im·a·gin·a·ry/ɪˈmæd͡ʒɪˌn(ɛ)ɹi/adjective, noun
imaginary is spelled I-M-A-G-I-N-A-R-Y, 5 syllables: im·a·gin·a·ry. The wrong spelling people search most is imaginery: about 30 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 34 of all searches for the word. Imaginary is an adjective meaning “Existing only in the imagination”.
How many letters and syllables are in imaginary?
| Letters | 9: I-M-A-G-I-N-A-R-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 5: im·a·gin·a·ry |
| In writing | 6.2 times per million words; the 9,735th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, imaginery, about 30 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell imaginary?
Imaginary is spelled I-M-A-G-I-N-A-R-Y. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 21 of the searches for imaginary in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is imaginary?
Imaginary appears 6.2 times per million words in written English, the 9,735th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce imaginary?
- UK /ɪˈmæd͡ʒɪnəɹi/
- UK /ɪˈmæd͡ʒɪnɹi/
- US /ɪˈmæd͡ʒɪˌn(ɛ)ɹi/
Imaginary has 5 syllables, split im·a·gin·a·ry in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-imaginary.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of imaginary
- more imaginary comparative
- most imaginary superlative
- imaginaries plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does imaginary mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Existing only in the imagination.
imaginary friend
- 2
Relating or belonging to the imagination.
- 3
Having no real part; that part of a complex number which is a multiple of √ (called imaginary unit).
noun
- 1
Imagination; fancy.
- 2
An imaginary number.
- 3
The set of values, institutions, laws, and symbols common to a particular social group and the corresponding society through which people imagine their social whole.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Imaginary in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense existing in the imagination:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | imaginaire |
| German | eingebildet, imaginär |
| Portuguese | imaginário |
| Spanish | imaginario |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does imaginary come from?
From Middle English ymaginarie, ymagynary, from Latin imāginārius (“relating to images, fancied”), from imāgō, equivalent to imagine + -ary. The mathematical sense derives from René Descartes's use (of the French imaginaire) in 1637, La Geometrie, to ridicule the notion of regarding non-real roots of polynomials as numbers. Although Descartes' usage was derogatory, the designation stuck even after the concept gained acceptance in the 18th century.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).