lactic acid
/ˈlæktɪk ˈæsɪd/
"lactic-acid" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“lactic 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) - 2-Hydroxypropanoic acid (CH₃CHOHCO₂H), a syrupy liquid, soluble in water; found in milk, wine and many fruits; used as a food additive and in many industrial applications.
Corpus desk
Index EN-lactic-acid · lactic acid · English
lactic acid · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "L" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | lactic acid |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈlæktɪk ˈæsɪd/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “lactic acid” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
lactic acid is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈlæktɪk ˈæsɪd/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "2-Hydroxypropanoic acid (CH₃CHOHCO₂H), a syrupy liquid, soluble in water; found in milk, wine and many fruits; used as a food additive and in many industrial applications.".
Zero misspellings are on record for lactic acid in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct English form is lactic acid, spelled L-A-C-T-I-C- -A-C-I-D.
Definition
- 12-Hydroxypropanoic acid (CH₃CHOHCO₂H), a syrupy liquid, soluble in water; found in milk, wine and many fruits; used as a food additive and in many industrial applications.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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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.