insufferable
/ɪnˈsʌfəɹəb(ə)l/
"insufferable" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“insufferable” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #37,517 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #37,517
- frequency rank, English
- 12
- letters
- 17
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Not sufferable; very difficult or impossible to endure; intolerable, unbearable.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | insufferable |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ɪnˈsʌfəɹəb(ə)l/ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Frequency rank | #37,517 |
| Misspellings tracked | 17 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “insufferable” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for insufferable is 12 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɪnˈsʌfəɹəb(ə)l/. Corpus data places it at rank #37,517 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Not sufferable; very difficult or impossible to endure; intolerable, unbearable.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 17 likely wrong-spelling variants for insufferable, with forms such as "innsufferable", "insfuferable", and "inssufferable". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Late Middle English insufferable (“unbearably painful, intolerable”), and then either: * from in- (prefix meaning ‘not’) + sufferable, souffrable (“bearable, endurable, tolerable; allowable, permissible; able to or willing to bear hardship; forbearing,… The correct English form is insufferable, spelled I-N-S-U-F-F-E-R-A-B-L-E.
Definition
- 1Not sufferable; very difficult or impossible to endure; intolerable, unbearable.
Etymology
From Late Middle English insufferable (“unbearably painful, intolerable”), and then either: * from in- (prefix meaning ‘not’) + sufferable, souffrable (“bearable, endurable, tolerable; allowable, permissible; able to or willing to bear hardship; forbearing, long-suffering; calm, self-restrained, slow to anger; capable of suffering”) (from Anglo-Norman sufferable, souffrable, and Old French souffrable, suffrable (“sufferable, tolerable”)); or * from Old French insouffrable (“which cannot be endured or suffered; something insufferable or unendurable”) (now dialectal), from in- (prefix meaning ‘not’) + souffrable, suffrable. From Old French souffrable, suffrable are derived from Medieval Latin sufferābilis, from Latin sufferre + -ābilis (suffix meaning ‘able or worthy to be’); while sufferre is the present active infinitive of sufferō, subferō (“to bear or carry under; to bear, endure, suffer, undergo”), from sub- (prefix meaning ‘below, under’) + ferō (“to bear, carry; to endure, suffer, tolerate”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to bear, carry”)). The English word is analysable as in- (prefix meaning ‘not’) + sufferable.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: innsufferable,insfuferable,inssufferable,insufefrable,insuferable,insuffearble,insufferabble,insufferabel,insufferablle,insufferalbe,insufferbale,insufferible,insufferrable,insuffreable,inusfferable,isnufferable,nisufferable
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of insufferable - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 “insufferable”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is I-N-S-U-F-F-E-R-A-B-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ɪnˈsʌfəɹəb(ə)l/ (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.