nitric acid
"nitric-acid" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“nitric 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 September 3, 2026) - A transparent, colorless to pale yellow, fuming corrosive liquid, HNO₃; a highly reactive oxidizing agent used in the production of fertilizers, explosives, and rocket fuels and in a wide variety o...
Corpus desk
Index EN-nitric-acid · nitric acid · English
nitric 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 "N" 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 | nitric acid |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “nitric acid” in English
Rare enough to double-check
nitric acid is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A transparent, colorless to pale yellow, fuming corrosive liquid, HNO₃; a highly reactive oxidizing agent used in the production of fertilizers, explosives, and rocket fuels and in a wide variety o...".
Zero misspellings are on record for nitric acid in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct English form is nitric acid, spelled N-I-T-R-I-C- -A-C-I-D.
Definition
- 1A transparent, colorless to pale yellow, fuming corrosive liquid, HNO₃; a highly reactive oxidizing agent used in the production of fertilizers, explosives, and rocket fuels and in a wide variety of industrial processes.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how nitric acid appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Instantly a little vapour arose from it, as happens when one disturbs nitric acid, and this sight did not increase my hopes, already faint enough, of the efficacy of the treatment.
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.