NC

noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"nc" is a 2-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“NC” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #6,597 in English word frequency and used as a noun.

#6,597
frequency rank, English
2
letters
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Abbreviation of nitrocellulose.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

NC vs ne
0% similar
NC vs NJ
50% similar
NC vs ni
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for NC
PropertyValue
HeadwordNC
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters2
Frequency rank#6,597
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “NC” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). NC lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for NC is 2 letters long, classified as a noun. Corpus data places it at rank #6,597 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 9 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for NC, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "ne", "NJ", "ni", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct English form is NC, spelled N-C.

Definition

  1. 1
    Abbreviation of nitrocellulose.
  2. 2
    Initialism of nolo contendere, no contest, a plea in criminal cases.
  3. 3
    Nick's Class, the complexity class of decision problems solvable in polylogarithmic time using a polynomial number of processors.
  4. 4
    Initialism of noun class.
  5. 5
    NASA research cargo plane designations.
  6. 6
    Initialism of noise control.
  7. 7
    Initialism of noise cancellation.
  8. 8
    Initialism of noncommercial.
  9. 9
    Initialism of numerical control.

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

How do you spell "NC"?
"NC" is spelled N-C.
What does "NC" mean?
As a noun, "NC" means: Abbreviation of nitrocellulose.
What words are commonly confused with "NC"?
"NC" is commonly confused with "ne", "NJ", "ni". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "NC" come from?
"NC" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “NC”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is N-C - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Don't mix it up with “ne” - see the side-by-side comparison. NC vs ne
  • 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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list