ineffable
/ɪˈnɛf.ə.bəl/
"ineffable" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ineffable” is an uncommon English word, ranked #58,763 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #58,763
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Beyond expression in words; unspeakable.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ineffable |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ɪˈnɛf.ə.bəl/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #58,763 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ineffable” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for ineffable is 9 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɪˈnɛf.ə.bəl/. Corpus data places it at rank #58,763 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for ineffable, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle French ineffable (modern French ineffable), from Latin ineffābilis, from in- (“not”) + effor (“utter”) + -bilis (“-able”). The correct English form is ineffable, spelled I-N-E-F-F-A-B-L-E.
Definition
- 1Beyond expression in words; unspeakable.
- 2Forbidden to be uttered; taboo.
Etymology
From Middle French ineffable (modern French ineffable), from Latin ineffābilis, from in- (“not”) + effor (“utter”) + -bilis (“-able”).
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); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “ineffable”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is I-N-E-F-F-A-B-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ɪˈnɛf.ə.bəl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.