intractable
/ɪnˈtɹæk.tə.bəl/adjective
intractable is spelled I-N-T-R-A-C-T-A-B-L-E. The wrong spelling people search most is intractible: about 150 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 27 of all searches for the word. Intractable is an adjective meaning “Not tractable; not able to be managed, controlled, governed or directed”.
How many letters and syllables are in intractable?
| Letters | 11: I-N-T-R-A-C-T-A-B-L-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 33,636th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, intractible, about 150 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with |
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell intractable?
Intractable is spelled I-N-T-R-A-C-T-A-B-L-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 27 of the searches for intractable in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is intractable?
Intractable appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 33,636th 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 intractable?
- US /ɪnˈtɹæk.tə.bəl/
Intractable 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Flame,_not_lame-intractable.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with intractable?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as intractable from its last stressed vowel (/æktəbəl/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of intractable
- more intractable comparative
- most intractable superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does intractable mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Not tractable; not able to be managed, controlled, governed or directed.
- 2
Not able to be solved in polynomial time; too difficult to attempt to solve.
- 3
Difficult to deal with, solve, or manage. (of a problem)
- 4
Stubborn; obstinate. (of a person)
- 5
Difficult to treat (of a medical condition).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Intractable in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | ingouvernable , intraitable , buté |
| German | schwer handhabbar, verfahren , unlenksam , störrisch, stur , schwierig zu behandeln |
| Spanish | inmanejable , intratable , obstinado |
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 intractable come from?
From in- + tractable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).