imminent
im·min·ent/ˈɪmɪnənt/adjective
imminent is spelled I-M-M-I-N-E-N-T, 3 syllables: im·min·ent. The wrong spelling people search most is iminent: about 410 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 20 of all searches for the word. Imminent is an adjective meaning “About to happen, occur, or take place very soon, especially of something which won't last long”.
How many letters and syllables are in imminent?
| Letters | 8: I-M-M-I-N-E-N-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: im·min·ent |
| In writing | 4.7 times per million words; the 11,685th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 3; the most searched, iminent, about 410 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Pairs people search |
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 imminent?
Imminent is spelled I-M-M-I-N-E-N-T. 3 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 12 of the searches for imminent 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 imminent?
Imminent appears 4.7 times per million words in written English, the 11,685th 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 imminent?
- /ˈɪmɪnənt/
- [ˈɪmɪnənt]
- /ˈɪmənənt/
Imminent has 3 syllables, split im·min·ent in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-imminent.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with imminent
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of imminent
- more imminent comparative
- most imminent superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does imminent mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
About to happen, occur, or take place very soon, especially of something which won't last long.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Imminent in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense about to happen, occur, or take place very soon:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | imminent |
| German | bevorstehend |
| Portuguese | iminente |
| Spanish | inminente |
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 imminent come from?
From the present participle of Latin imminēre (“to overhang”), from mineō ("to project, overhang"), related to minae (English menace) and mons (English mount). Compare with eminent.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).