incongruous
/ɪnˈkɑn.ɡɹu.əs/adjective
incongruous is spelled I-N-C-O-N-G-R-U-O-U-S: 11 letters and 4 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 42,145th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, incongruous means “Not similar or congruent; not matching or fitting in” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in incongruous?
| Letters | 11: I-N-C-O-N-G-R-U-O-U-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 42,145th 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 incongruous?
Incongruous appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 42,145th 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 incongruous?
- UK /ɪnˈkɒn.ɡɹʊu.ʌs/
- UK /ɪnˈkɒŋ.ɹʊu.ʌs/
- US /ɪnˈkɑn.ɡɹu.əs/
Incongruous has 4 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: En-us-incongruous.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of incongruous
- more incongruous comparative
- most incongruous superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does incongruous mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Not similar or congruent; not matching or fitting in.
- 2
Of two numbers, with respect to a third, such that their difference can not be divided by it without a remainder.
20 and 25 are incongruous with respect to 4.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Incongruous in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense not matching:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | incongru |
| German | unpassend, unvereinbar, uneinheitlich, ungleich, disparat, nicht zusammenpassend |
| Portuguese | incongruente |
| Spanish | incongruente |
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 incongruous come from?
From Latin incongruus, from in- (“not”) + congruus (“congruent”), equivalent to in- + congruous.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).