impalpable
"impalpable" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“impalpable” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Incapable of being touched or felt; incorporeal, intangible.
Corpus desk
Index EN-impalpable · impalpable · English
impalpable · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 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 | impalpable |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “impalpable” in English
Rare enough to double-check
impalpable is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
impalpable doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle French impalpable, from Medieval Latin impalpabilis. See im- + palpable. The correct English form is impalpable, spelled I-M-P-A-L-P-A-B-L-E.
Definition
- 1Incapable of being touched or felt; incorporeal, intangible.
- 2Not able to be perceived, or able to be perceived only with difficulty; insubstantial, thin.
- 3Not easily grasped (mentally) or understood.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how impalpable appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
But here thou canst not handle aught, neither make the folk ware of thee, not though thou shout thy throat hoarse. For thou and I walk here impalpable and invisible, as it were two dreams walking.
On the benches lay figures covered with yellow linen, on which a fine and impalpable dust had gathered in the course of ages, but nothing like to the extent that one would have anticipated, for in these deep-hewn caves there is no material to turn to dust.
Etymology
From Middle French impalpable, from Medieval Latin impalpabilis. See im- + palpable.
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.