anthracene
noun
anthracene is spelled A-N-T-H-R-A-C-E-N-E: 10 letters. It appears about once in every 21 million words in written English, the 139,999th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, anthracene means “A tricyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (an acene containing three fused rings) obtained from coal tar; used in the manufacture of wood preservatives…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of anthracene is anthracenes.
How many letters and syllables are in anthracene?
| Letters | 10: A-N-T-H-R-A-C-E-N-E |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 21 million words; the 139,999th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is anthracene?
Anthracene appears about once in every 21 million words in written English, the 139,999th 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).
Forms of anthracene
- anthracenes plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does anthracene mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A tricyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (an acene containing three fused rings) obtained from coal tar; used in the manufacture of wood preservatives, insecticides and the dye alizarin; it is isomeric with phenanthrene.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Anthracene in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense tricyclic aromatic hydrocarbon:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | anthracène |
| Portuguese | antraceno |
| Spanish | antraceno |
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 anthracene come from?
Borrowed from French anthracène, coined by its co-discoverer Auguste Laurent in 1837, from Ancient Greek ἄνθραξ (ánthrax, “coal”) + -ene. By surface analysis, anthrac- + -ene.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).