chitin
/ˈkaɪtɪn/
"chitin" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“chitin” is uncommon English (frequency #71,399 among 5,599 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #71,399
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A complex polysaccharide, a polymer of N-acetylglucosamine, found in the exoskeletons of arthropods and in the cell walls of fungi; thought to be responsible for some forms of asthma in humans.
Corpus desk
Index EN-chitin · chitin · English
chitin · rank #71,399 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #71,399
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH Chippenham
Nearest frequency peer: Chippenham (-1 rank slots)
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.
Long-tail ranks near “chitin”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- chicanery
chicanery
28,605 corpus weight
- Chinas
Chinas
28,604 corpus weight
- Chippenham
Chippenham
28,603 corpus weight
- chitin
chitin
28,602 corpus weight
- Chuy
Chuy
28,601 corpus weight
- Cimarron
Cimarron
28,600 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “chitin” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | chitin |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈkaɪtɪn/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #71,399 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “chitin” in English
Rare enough to double-check
chitin is uncommon English at frequency #71,399 among 5,599 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈkaɪtɪn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A complex polysaccharide, a polymer of N-acetylglucosamine, found in the exoskeletons of arthropods and in the cell walls of fungi; thought to be responsible for some forms of asthma in humans.".
chitin has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French chitine, from Latin chitōn (“mollusk”), from Ancient Greek χιτών (khitṓn). See also chiton. The correct English form is chitin, spelled C-H-I-T-I-N.
Definition
- 1A complex polysaccharide, a polymer of N-acetylglucosamine, found in the exoskeletons of arthropods and in the cell walls of fungi; thought to be responsible for some forms of asthma in humans.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how chitin appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Chitin usually occurs throughout Invertebrates in the form of an investment to the outermost cellular layer or ectoderm.
The robot’s energy source is the sugar in the polysaccharide called chitin that makes up a fly’s exoskeleton.
Etymology
From French chitine, from Latin chitōn (“mollusk”), from Ancient Greek χιτών (khitṓn). See also chiton.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "chitin", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).