vitamin
/ˈvaɪ.tə.mɪn/noun, verb
vitamin is spelled V-I-T-A-M-I-N: 7 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 10 times per million words in written English, the 7,009th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, vitamin means “Any of a specific group of organic compounds essential in small quantities for healthy human growth, metabolism, development, and body function. They…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of vitamin is vitamins.
How many letters and syllables are in vitamin?
| Letters | 7: V-I-T-A-M-I-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 10 times per million words; the 7,009th 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 vitamin?
Vitamin appears 10 times per million words in written English, the 7,009th 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 vitamin?
- UK /ˈvɪt.ə.mɪn/
- US /ˈvaɪ.tə.mɪn/
- US [ˈvʌɪ.ɾə.mɪn]
Vitamin 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: En-us-vitamin.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Wodencafe-vitamin.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of vitamin
- vitamins plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- vitamining participle, present
- vitamined participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does vitamin mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Any of a specific group of organic compounds essential in small quantities for healthy human growth, metabolism, development, and body function. They are found in minute amounts in plant and animal foods or sometimes produced synthetically, and deficiencies of specific vitamins produce specific disorders.
a food rich in vitamins
- 2
informalpreceding a word or its initial letter, to imply that the referent benefits health or wellness
Vitamin N: The Essential Guide to a Nature-Rich Life
verb
- 1
datedTo fortify with vitamins.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate vitamin?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of vitamin: vit..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Vitamin in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | vitamine |
| German | Vitamin |
| Portuguese | vitamina |
| Spanish | vitamina , vitamínico |
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 vitamin come from?
First use appears c. 1920, originally vitamine (1912), from Latin vīta (“life”) (see vital) + amine (see amino acids). Vitamine coined by Polish biochemist Casimir Funk after the initial discovery of aberic acid (thiamine), when it was thought that all such nutrients would be amines. The term had become ubiquitous by the time it was discovered that vitamin C, among others, had no amine component. In 1920, British biochemist Jack Drummond proposed that the final -e be dropped to deemphasize the amine reference.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).