unintelligibility

noun

"unintelligibility" is a 17-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“unintelligibility” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
17
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The quality or condition of being unintelligible.

Corpus desk

Index EN-unintelligibility · unintelligibility · English

unintelligibility · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 17 letters
  • VOW-8 8 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "U" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for unintelligibility
PropertyValue
Headwordunintelligibility
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters17
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “unintelligibility” in English

unintelligibilityfalls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

unintelligibility is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for unintelligibility in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: From un- + intelligibility. The correct English form is unintelligibility, spelled U-N-I-N-T-E-L-L-I-G-I-B-I-L-I-T-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    The quality or condition of being unintelligible.
  2. 2
    Something that is unintelligible.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how unintelligibility appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Some of them have, in fact, given them a theoretical elaboration which for subtlety, refinement, and elegance need make no apologies to the older economics, and which remains faithful to older theorizing in at least one respect, that the tradition of unintelligibility to the layman is scrupulously observed.

Etymology

From un- + intelligibility.

Synonyms

Antonyms

intelligibilitycomprehensibility

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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "unintelligibility"?
"unintelligibility" is spelled U-N-I-N-T-E-L-L-I-G-I-B-I-L-I-T-Y.
What does "unintelligibility" mean?
As a noun, "unintelligibility" means: The quality or condition of being unintelligible.
What is the origin of the word "unintelligibility"?
From un- + intelligibility. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list