palpable
/ˈpælpəbəl/adjective
palpable is spelled P-A-L-P-A-B-L-E: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 1.5 times per million words in written English, the 22,651st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, palpable means “Capable of being touched, felt or handled; touchable, tangible” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in palpable?
| Letters | 8: P-A-L-P-A-B-L-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.5 times per million words; the 22,651st 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 palpable?
Palpable appears 1.5 times per million words in written English, the 22,651st 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 palpable?
- UK /ˈpælpəbəl/
- US /ˈpælpəbəl/
Palpable has 3 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-palpable.ogg, En-au-palpable.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of palpable
- more palpable comparative
- most palpable superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does palpable mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Capable of being touched, felt or handled; touchable, tangible.
- 2
Obvious or easily perceived; noticeable.
- 3
That can be detected by palpation.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Palpable in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense capable of being touched:
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 palpable come from?
From Middle French palpable and its source, Latin palpābilis, which is from palpō (“to touch softly”) + -bilis.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).