prion
/ˈpɹiːɒn/
"prion" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“prion” is uncommon English (frequency #51,928 among 46,516 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #51,928
- frequency rank, English
- 46,516
- “P” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A self-propagating misfolded conformer of a protein that is responsible for a number of diseases that affect the brain and other neural tissue.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | prion |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpɹiːɒn/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #51,928 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “prion” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
prion is uncommon English at frequency #51,928 among 46,516 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈpɹiːɒn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A self-propagating misfolded conformer of a protein that is responsible for a number of diseases that affect the brain and other neural tissue.".
prion has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From (a reordering of) the initial letters of proteinaceous infectious particle. Coined by American neurologist and biochemist Stanley B. Prusiner in 1982. The correct English form is prion, spelled P-R-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1A self-propagating misfolded conformer of a protein that is responsible for a number of diseases that affect the brain and other neural tissue.
Etymology
From (a reordering of) the initial letters of proteinaceous infectious particle. Coined by American neurologist and biochemist Stanley B. Prusiner in 1982.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “prion”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-R-I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈpɹiːɒn/ (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.