imp.
/ɪmp/
"imp" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“imp.” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 4
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Abbreviation of imperative.
Corpus desk
Index EN-imp · imp. · English
imp. · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- 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 | imp. |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ɪmp/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “imp.” in English
Rare enough to double-check
imp. is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ɪmp/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 7 senses are on record.
imp. has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Abbreviations. The correct English form is imp., spelled I-M-P-..
Definition
- 1Abbreviation of imperative.
- 2Abbreviation of imperfect.
- 3Abbreviation of impersonal.
- 4Abbreviation of imperial.
- 5Abbreviation of important.
- 6Abbreviation of imported.
- 7Abbreviation of improved.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how imp. appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
notā, sg. imp. form of notō, “I mark”
sate, obs. imp. form of to sit
Etymology
Abbreviations.
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.