phenylalanine
/ˌfiːnəlˈæləniːn/noun
phenylalanine is spelled P-H-E-N-Y-L-A-L-A-N-I-N-E: 13 letters. It appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 67,454th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, phenylalanine means “An essential amino acid C₉H₁₁NO₂ found in most animal proteins; it is essential for growth; the inability to metabolize it leads to phenylketonuria…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of phenylalanine is phenylalanines.
How many letters and syllables are in phenylalanine?
| Letters | 13: P-H-E-N-Y-L-A-L-A-N-I-N-E |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 5 million words; the 67,454th 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 phenylalanine?
Phenylalanine appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 67,454th 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).
How do you pronounce phenylalanine?
- /ˌfiːnəlˈæləniːn/
- /ˌfɛnəlˈæləniːn/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-phenylalanine.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-phenylalanine2.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of phenylalanine
- phenylalanines plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does phenylalanine mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An essential amino acid C₉H₁₁NO₂ found in most animal proteins; it is essential for growth; the inability to metabolize it leads to phenylketonuria; it is a constituent of aspartame.
- 2
This molecule or its D-isomer.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Phenylalanine in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense amino acid; C9H11NO2:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | phénylalanine |
| German | Phenylalanin |
| Portuguese | fenilalanina |
| Spanish | fenilalanina |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does phenylalanine come from?
From phenyl + alanine.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).