alanine
/ˈæləniːn/
"alanine" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“alanine” is an uncommon English word, ranked #52,134 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #52,134
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A nonessential amino acid 2-aminopropanoic acid found in most animal proteins
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | alanine |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈæləniːn/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #52,134 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “alanine” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for alanine is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈæləniːn/. Corpus data places it at rank #52,134 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for alanine, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From aldehyde + -anine, in reference to aldehyde, with the infix -an- for ease of pronunciation, when the German chemist Adolph Strecker first synthesized alanine in 1850 by mixing acetaldehyde (then just known as aldehyde) with ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, a… The correct English form is alanine, spelled A-L-A-N-I-N-E.
Definition
- 1A nonessential amino acid 2-aminopropanoic acid found in most animal proteins
- 2A specific residue, molecule, or isomer of this amino acid
Etymology
From aldehyde + -anine, in reference to aldehyde, with the infix -an- for ease of pronunciation, when the German chemist Adolph Strecker first synthesized alanine in 1850 by mixing acetaldehyde (then just known as aldehyde) with ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, and hydrochloric acid.
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); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
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Using “alanine”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-L-A-N-I-N-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈæləniːn/ (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.