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impinge

/ɪmˈpɪnd͡ʒ/verb

impinge is a verb meaning “To make a physical impact on” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled I-M-P-I-N-G-E and has 2 syllables, and it appears about once in every 5 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data).

What does impinge mean?

verb

  1. 1

    rareTo make a physical impact on.

    Loud noise can impinge on the eardrum, causing temporary hearing damage.

  2. 2

    rareTo interfere with.

  3. 3

    To have an effect upon, especially a negative one.

    Near-synonym: infringe

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you pronounce impinge?

  • /ɪmˈpɪnd͡ʒ/

Impinge has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-impinge.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of impinge

  • impinges present, singular, he/she/it
  • impinging participle, present
  • impinged participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How common is impinge?

Impinge appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 65,913th 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).

Impinge in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchtoucher, butter, cogner (to make a physical impact on to collide, to…), influencer, troubler (to interfere with), agir sur (to have a (negative) effect upon; to limit)
Germanaufschlagen, aufprallen (to make a physical impact on to collide, to…), beeinflussen (to interfere with), einschneiden (to have a (negative) effect upon; to limit)
Spanishchocar (to make a physical impact on to collide, to…), interferir, inmiscuirse, pinzar (to interfere with), limitar, coartar (to have a (negative) effect upon; to limit)

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 impinge come from?

Borrowed from Latin impingō (“dash against, impinge”). Compare impact, derived from the perfect passive participle of impingō.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).