laetrile
noun
laetrile is spelled L-A-E-T-R-I-L-E: 8 letters. It appears about once in every 40 million words in written English, the 194,306th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, laetrile means “A drug, derived from the amygdalin of apricot kernels, once thought capable of destroying cancer cells by the release of cyanide but later banned in…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of laetrile is laetriles.
How many letters and syllables are in laetrile?
| Letters | 8: L-A-E-T-R-I-L-E |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 40 million words; the 194,306th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is laetrile?
Laetrile appears about once in every 40 million words in written English, the 194,306th 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).
Forms of laetrile
- laetriles plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does laetrile mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A drug, derived from the amygdalin of apricot kernels, once thought capable of destroying cancer cells by the release of cyanide but later banned in the United States by the FDA.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does laetrile come from?
A contraction of l-mandelonitrile, from Ancient Greek ἀμυγδάλη (amugdálē, “almond”) + -o- + nitrile.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).