Nouns That Start With I

A noun is a person, place, thing, or idea. You’ll often see them come after an article, like "a," "an," and "the." They also like to stand as the subject of a sentence. For example, "The igloo was a hotel!”

Nouns can also be the object of a sentence. That means they’ll come after the verb. For example, "You need to adjust your ideology on that matter." Names, including people, cities, and more are also considered nouns.

This is an interesting bunch. You may even pick up a new word or two from the list below. Maybe your next short story will feature an ibis named Ingrid. Here are 50 nouns that feature the letter I.

1. Ibex - an old world goat where the male has large, backward-curved horns
2. Ibis - a large wading bird with long legs and a long, slender, curved bill
3. Iceberg - a great mass of ice broken off from a glacier and floating in the sea
4. Icecap - an extensive cover of ice and snow over a large area
5. Icicle - a tapering, pointed, hanging piece of ice
6. Icon - a person or thing that is symbolic
7. Idea - a thought, belief, opinion, or plan
8. Idealist - a person guided by principles or hopes rather than practicality
9. Identification - the document with your picture and personal information
10. Ideology - the set of beliefs that are important to a person, group, or culture
11. Idiocy - extreme foolishness
12. Idiom - the language or expression used by a specific group of people
13. Idleness - the state of doing nothing
14. Idol - an object that is adored or worshipped
15. Idyll - a short story or poem about simple or rural life
16. Igloo - an Eskimo house or hut, built of blocks of packed snow
17. Ignition - a system or device that sets something on fire
18. Ignorance - being unaware, uneducated, or unknowledgeable
19. Iguana - a herbivorous lizard found chiefly in tropical America
20. Illegal - a person who isn’t legally authorized to live and work in a country
21. Illiteracy - the inability to read and write
22. Illness - a sickness or disease
23. Illusion - an idea or something you can see that isn’t real
24. Illustration - a picture or a drawing
25. Imagination - the ability to come up new and creative ideas
26. Imagineer - a Disney employee responsible for creative planning and engineering
27. Imbalance - a lack of equality
28. Imbecile - someone who is foolish
29. Imitator - one who copies another
30. Immaturity - the condition of not being fully grown
31. Immersion - submerging in something
32. Immigrant - someone who moves to a new country
33. Immorality - a bad character or behavior
34. Immortality - the ability to live forever
35. Immunity - being able to resist a disease or medical condition
36. Impact - the force transmitted by a collision
37. Impasse - Something from which there is no escape or solution
38. Importance - the significance of a person, thing, or idea
39. Impossibility - the condition or quality of being impossible
40. Impulse - a strong urge
41. Inclusion - being made a part of something
42. Index - a guide, list, or sign
43. Indifference - a lack of care, concern, or interest
44. Individual - a single person or thing
45. Information - news or knowledge received or given
46. Intelligence - the ability to retain knowledge or use reasoning to solve problems
47. Irish - the people of Ireland
48. Irregular - someone or something that doesn’t conform to normal standards
49. Isolation - the state of being alone or away from others
50. Itinerary - a travel plan

Nouns function in many capacities. In fact, there are over 10 different types of nouns. Proper and common nouns are a popular bunch. If a noun is referring to a person or place, it’s likely acting as a proper noun (e.g. Margaret, Baltimore, Montana, Iceland, and the Capitol). An example of that would be, "Isabelle has gorgeous red hair."

Common nouns, on the other hand, refer to general, unspecified things. In the example above, Isabelle is a proper noun. But, if that line simply read, "That individual has gorgeous red hair,” you'd know the subject was a common noun. Unless they come at the start of a sentence, common nouns aren’t capitalized or specific.

That brings us to pronouns. It’s not uncommon to see both nouns and pronouns in a single sentence. For example, “Isaac handed the glass to her.” Along with these types of nouns, you’ve also got compound nouns (e.g., icebreaker and inkblot), countable nouns, possessive nouns, and more.

Now that we’ve covered all our I-bases, how about a little I-practice? Enjoy the 10 example sentences below and see if they spark any new ideas for your journal or new short story. Click on the link in each sentence to see more example sentences containing that I-noun:

1. It’s best to clear those dangerous icicles from the gutters.
2. Is there anything wrong with being an idealist?
3. Be careful not to take an idiom too literally.
4. Would you like to stay a night in an igloo?
5. Skilled reading teachers can help students struggling with illiteracy.
6. We should eat fruits and vegetables to prevent an imbalance in our bodies.
7. The evil goddess cursed the man with immortality.
8. If no one can agree, it looks like we’re at an impasse.
9. All students should practice inclusion when they’re at school.
10. Now that she has her passport, she is Irish.

While there are a lot of nouns that start with I, there are also plenty of I-words in other parts of speech. Interested? Use this list of words that start with the letter I on WordFinder by YourDictionary to increase your vocabulary of terms that begin with this letter. You’ll be able to investigate a full word list or filter by word length or terms that start, end with or include certain letters or letter combinations.

The more we read, the more we advance our literacy. What do you say we ice out illiteracy and embrace a love of novels, poetry, short stories, and more? You can even author your own future with these tips on writing poems. Interested in other words that kick things off with a bright and cheery vowel? Enjoy this list of nouns starting with A or, if you prefer, a list of nouns that start with E.