impalement
noun
impalement is spelled I-M-P-A-L-E-M-E-N-T: 10 letters. It appears about once in every 17 million words in written English, the 125,655th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, impalement means “The act of torturing or executing someone by impaling them on a sharp stake” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of impalement is impalements.
How many letters and syllables are in impalement?
| Letters | 10: I-M-P-A-L-E-M-E-N-T |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 17 million words; the 125,655th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in 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).
How common is impalement?
Impalement appears about once in every 17 million words in written English, the 125,655th 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 impalement?
- US
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Wodencafe-impalement.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of impalement
- impalements plural
- empalement
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does impalement mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The act of torturing or executing someone by impaling them on a sharp stake.
- 2
The joining of two coats of arms on one shield.
- 3
A space fenced in, such as by palings, possibly in the form of an enclosure or cup.
- 4
obsoleteIn the sense of an enclosure, the calyx of a flower. (In still older works, also spelt empalement.)
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Impalement in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense act of torturing:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | empalement |
| German | Pfählung |
| Portuguese | empalamento |
| Spanish | empalamiento |
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 impalement come from?
From Middle French empalement; equivalent to impale + -ment.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).