incommunicado

[ɪnkəmjunɨˈkɑːdoʊ]adjective, adverb

incommunicado is spelled I-N-C-O-M-M-U-N-I-C-A-D-O: 13 letters and 6 syllables. It appears about once in every 6 million words in written English, the 75,877th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, incommunicado means “In a state or condition of inability or unwillingness to communicate” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in incommunicado?

Letters	13: I-N-C-O-M-M-U-N-I-C-A-D-O
Syllables	6 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing	about once in every 6 million words; the 75,877th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched	none measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is incommunicado?

Incommunicado appears about once in every 6 million words in written English, the 75,877th most frequent word form in the list.

incommunicado0.0010.010.11101001,00010,000

rarerper million words of written Englishmore common

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce incommunicado?

US [ɪnkəmjunɨˈkɑːdoʊ]

Incommunicado has 6 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-incommunicado.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What does incommunicado mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

1
In a state or condition of inability or unwillingness to communicate.

adverb

1
In a manner in which communication with outsiders is not possible, for either voluntary or involuntary reasons, especially due to confinement or reclusiveness.

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

Incommunicado in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

Language	Words
German	isoliert, abgeschnitten, unerreichbar, nicht erreichbar (in a state or condition of inability or…), von der Außenwelt abgeschnitten (in a manner in which communication is not…)
Spanish	incomunicado (in a state or condition of inability or…), incomunicadamente (in a manner in which communication is not…)

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 incommunicado come from?

Borrowed from Spanish incomunicado, with spelling influenced by such English words as communicate.