nitroglycerin

noun

"nitroglycerin" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“nitroglycerin” is uncommon English (frequency #58,239 among 1,534 “N” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#58,239
frequency rank, English
1,534
“N” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Alternative spelling of nitroglycerine.

Corpus desk

Index EN-nitroglycerin · nitroglycerin · English

nitroglycerin · rank #58,239 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #58,239
  • LEN-MEGA 13 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,534
  • PHOTO-FINISH Nishikori

Nearest frequency peer: Nishikori (-1 rank slots)

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.

Long-tail ranks near “nitroglycerin”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “nitroglycerin” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for nitroglycerin
PropertyValue
Headwordnitroglycerin
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters13
Frequency rank#58,239
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “nitroglycerin” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).nitroglycerinfalls in this rarity band:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “Nishikori” (#58,238), “noobs” (#58,240), “Niel” (#58,237). Among 1,534 “N” headwords, “nitroglycerin” is #58,239. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

nitroglycerin is uncommon English at frequency #58,239 among 1,534 “N” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Alternative spelling of nitroglycerine.".

nitroglycerin has no tracked misspelling variants, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From nitro- + glycerin. The correct English form is nitroglycerin, spelled N-I-T-R-O-G-L-Y-C-E-R-I-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Alternative spelling of nitroglycerine.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how nitroglycerin appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Officials in San Bernardino, California, report what is feared to be one of the most uneradicable dangers to gay people yet: the armoured crab. Armoured crabs […] are impervious to not only traditional commercial remedies but to unorthodox cures as well, such as sand blasting, nitroglycerin, and plastic surgery.
  2. The observation that topical application of nitroglycerin to the penis may lead to erection adequate for sexual intercourse (Talley and Crawley 1985) has stimulated several investigations on the efficacy of this potential mode of treatment of erectile dysfunction.

Etymology

From nitro- + glycerin.

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 "nitroglycerin"?
"nitroglycerin" is spelled N-I-T-R-O-G-L-Y-C-E-R-I-N.
What does "nitroglycerin" mean?
As a noun, "nitroglycerin" means: Alternative spelling of nitroglycerine.
What is the origin of the word "nitroglycerin"?
From nitro- + glycerin. See the full etymology section above for more details.
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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "nitroglycerin", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 13 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list