citric acid
/ˌsɪtɹɪk ˈæsɪd/
"citric-acid" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“citric acid” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A colourless crystalline compound, 2-hydroxy-1,2,3-propanetricarboxylic acid, C₆H₈O₇, found in citrus fruit; it is used as a food additive and in the manufacture of citrates.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | citric acid |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌsɪtɹɪk ˈæsɪd/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “citric acid” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
citric acid is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌsɪtɹɪk ˈæsɪd/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A colourless crystalline compound, 2-hydroxy-1,2,3-propanetricarboxylic acid, C₆H₈O₇, found in citrus fruit; it is used as a food additive and in the manufacture of citrates.".
Zero misspellings are on record for citric acid in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is citric acid, spelled C-I-T-R-I-C- -A-C-I-D.
Definition
- 1A colourless crystalline compound, 2-hydroxy-1,2,3-propanetricarboxylic acid, C₆H₈O₇, found in citrus fruit; it is used as a food additive and in the manufacture of citrates.
Synonyms
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “citric acid”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-I-T-R-I-C- -A-C-I-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌsɪtɹɪk ˈæsɪd/ (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.