collagen
/ˈkɑləd͡ʒən/noun
collagen is spelled C-O-L-L-A-G-E-N: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 1.8 times per million words in written English, the 20,906th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, collagen means “The main structural protein in the extracellular matrix of the connective tissues of many animals” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of collagen is collagens.
How many letters and syllables are in collagen?
| Letters | 8: C-O-L-L-A-G-E-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.8 times per million words; the 20,906th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is collagen?
Collagen appears 1.8 times per million words in written English, the 20,906th 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).
How do you pronounce collagen?
- UK /ˈkɒləd͡ʒɪn/
- UK /ˈkɒləd͡ʒən/
- US /ˈkɑləd͡ʒən/
Collagen has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-collagen.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of collagen
- collagens plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does collagen mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The main structural protein in the extracellular matrix of the connective tissues of many animals.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Collagen in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense glycoprotein that forms elongated fibers:
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 collagen come from?
From French collagène, coined from Ancient Greek κόλλα (kólla, “glue”) and -γενής (-genḗs, “-forming”) (see -gen); it is the main substance that animal glues are derived from.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).