capsaicin
/kæpˈseɪəsən/
"capsaicin" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“capsaicin” is uncommon English (frequency #64,963 among 43,570 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #64,963
- frequency rank, English
- 43,570
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A chemical compound found in chilli peppers, which is responsible for their piquancy.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | capsaicin |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kæpˈseɪəsən/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #64,963 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “capsaicin” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
capsaicin is uncommon English at frequency #64,963 among 43,570 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /kæpˈseɪəsən/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A chemical compound found in chilli peppers, which is responsible for their piquancy.".
Zero misspellings are on record for capsaicin in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: Arbitrary alteration of earlier capsicine, capsicin (“material extracted from cayenne pepper”), presumably to prevent confusion, from German Capsicin, from New Latin capsicum + German -in. Name introduced by John Clough Thresh (1850–1932) in “Capsaicin, the… The correct English form is capsaicin, spelled C-A-P-S-A-I-C-I-N.
Definition
- 1A chemical compound found in chilli peppers, which is responsible for their piquancy.
Etymology
Arbitrary alteration of earlier capsicine, capsicin (“material extracted from cayenne pepper”), presumably to prevent confusion, from German Capsicin, from New Latin capsicum + German -in. Name introduced by John Clough Thresh (1850–1932) in “Capsaicin, the Active Principle of Capsicum Fruits”.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “capsaicin”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-A-P-S-A-I-C-I-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kæpˈseɪəsən/ (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
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.