imbroglio
/ɪmˈbɹəʊljəʊ/
"imbroglio" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“imbroglio” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A complicated situation; an entanglement.
Corpus desk
Index EN-imbroglio · imbroglio · English
imbroglio · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "I" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | imbroglio |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɪmˈbɹəʊljəʊ/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “imbroglio” in English
Rare enough to double-check
imbroglio is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ɪmˈbɹəʊljəʊ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A complicated situation; an entanglement.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for imbroglio, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Italian imbroglio (“tangle, entanglement, muddle”) (im-, alternative form of in- (prefix forming verbs denoting derivation) + broglio (“confusion; intrigue, fraud, rigging, stuffing”); see also imbrogliare (“to tangle”)), cognate with and prob… The correct English form is imbroglio, spelled I-M-B-R-O-G-L-I-O.
Definition
- 1A complicated situation; an entanglement.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how imbroglio appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Into the drawers and china pry, / Papers and books, a huge imbroglio! / Under a tea-cup he might lie, / Or creased, like dogs-ears, in a folio.
Your trip here will never quite go as planned. […] There may be strikes, mixed-up reservations, maddening imbrogli of all sorts. But they will be charming imbrogli because the Italian people are charming, down to the whimsical tone of their language.
Etymology
Borrowed from Italian imbroglio (“tangle, entanglement, muddle”) (im-, alternative form of in- (prefix forming verbs denoting derivation) + broglio (“confusion; intrigue, fraud, rigging, stuffing”); see also imbrogliare (“to tangle”)), cognate with and probably from an earlier form of French embrouiller (“to embroil, muddle”) (em- (“em-”), a form of en- (“en-”, prefix meaning ‘caused’) + brouiller (“to confuse, mix up”)).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.