RNA
/ɑː(ɹ)ɛn eɪ/noun
RNA is spelled R-N-A: 3 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 4.8 times per million words in written English, the 11,541st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, RNA means “Initialism of ribonucleic acid” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of RNA is RNAs.
How many letters and syllables are in RNA?
| Letters | 3: R-N-A |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 4.8 times per million words; the 11,541st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is RNA?
RNA appears 4.8 times per million words in written English, the 11,541st 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 RNA?
- /ɑː(ɹ)ɛn eɪ/
RNA has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-RNA.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of RNA
- RNAs plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does RNA mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Initialism of ribonucleic acid.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
RNA in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense abbreviation of ribonucleic acid:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | ARN |
| German | RNS (Ribonukleinsäure f) |
| Portuguese | RNA, ARN |
| Spanish | ARN (ácido ribonucleico) |
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.