niacin
/ˈnaɪəsɪn/
"niacin" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“niacin” is uncommon English (frequency #52,519 among 24,391 “N” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #52,519
- frequency rank, English
- 24,391
- “N” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A water-soluble vitamin, a component of vitamin B complex, found in meat, yeast, and dairy products; it is essential to metabolism.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | niacin |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈnaɪəsɪn/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #52,519 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “niacin” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
niacin is uncommon English at frequency #52,519 among 24,391 “N” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈnaɪəsɪn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A water-soluble vitamin, a component of vitamin B complex, found in meat, yeast, and dairy products; it is essential to metabolism.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for niacin, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: in 1942 derived from nicotinic + acid + vitamin, chosen to dissociate it from nicotine, to avoid the perception that vitamins or niacin-rich food contains nicotine, or that cigarettes contain vitamins. The correct English form is niacin, spelled N-I-A-C-I-N.
Definition
- 1A water-soluble vitamin, a component of vitamin B complex, found in meat, yeast, and dairy products; it is essential to metabolism.
Etymology
in 1942 derived from nicotinic + acid + vitamin, chosen to dissociate it from nicotine, to avoid the perception that vitamins or niacin-rich food contains nicotine, or that cigarettes contain vitamins.
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); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
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Using “niacin”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is N-I-A-C-I-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈnaɪəsɪn/ (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
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.