ricin
/ˈɹaɪsɪn/
"ricin" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ricin” is uncommon English (frequency #59,677 among 21,470 “R” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #59,677
- frequency rank, English
- 21,470
- “R” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An extremely toxic lectin extracted from the castor bean.
Corpus desk
Index EN-ricin · ricin · English
ricin · rank #59,677 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #59,677
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 21,470
- PHOTO-FINISH rhizome
Nearest frequency peer: rhizome (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “ricin”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- reticle
reticle
40,331 corpus weight
- rhizome
rhizome
40,325 corpus weight
- ricin
ricin
40,324 corpus weight
- ritually
ritually
40,321 corpus weight
- roadrunner
roadrunner
40,319 corpus weight
- Rolla
Rolla
40,317 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “ricin” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ricin |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɹaɪsɪn/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #59,677 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ricin” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
ricin is uncommon English at frequency #59,677 among 21,470 “R” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈɹaɪsɪn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "An extremely toxic lectin extracted from the castor bean.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for ricin, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. 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 Latin ricinus. The correct English form is ricin, spelled R-I-C-I-N.
Definition
- 1An extremely toxic lectin extracted from the castor bean.
Etymology
From Latin ricinus.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "ricin"?
What does "ricin" mean?
How do you pronounce "ricin"?
What is the origin of the word "ricin"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "ricin", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency 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.