Yes. AECIA is a valid word.
AECIA is valid in the North American word list used for the Scrabble board game and other crossword tile games.
AECIA is in the NASPA Word List 2023 (NWL2023), the North American list that Tileside uses for challenges and the one used in club and tournament play.
About AECIA
AECIA is the plural of AECIUM, a cup-shaped structure that produces spores in rust fungi, the diseases that leave orange spots on plants. It is a botany word few people know, but it clears four vowels, A, E, I and A, with a single C. Learn it with the other Latin plurals in this family, such as OIDIA and ZOEAE. Gardeners meet aecia as the small orange cups that rust fungi raise on the undersides of leaves. The singular, AECIUM, is valid too, as is AECIAL, describing them. It is a word that turns up in biology exams more than at the kitchen table, so expect raised eyebrows.
Settle the next one at the table: score your game free in Tileside →
AECIA scores 7 points
Before any bonus squares: A 1 + E 1 + C 3 + I 1 + A 1 = 7. On a double-word square that's 14, on a triple-word 21, and every letter bonus under one of these tiles is applied first.
Example: AECIA as the first play
Later in the game, put the C on a 3L square and AECIA is worth 13 before any word bonus.
Hooks: one tile makes a new word
After AECIA (1):
- AECIALof or belonging to an aecium
Place that one tile so it also forms a word in the other direction and both words score.
Same letters, other words
No other word in the list uses exactly the letters A, E, C, I and A.
Add one tile: words from these letters plus one more
AECIA + D
- ACEDIAapathy and inactivity in the practice of virtue (personified as one of the deadly sins)
AECIA + F
- FACIAEform of FACIA: a sheet or band of fibrous connective tissue separating or binding together muscles and organs etc
AECIA + L
- AECIALof or belonging to an aecium
Memory tip
AECIA is the plural of AECIUM, a spore cup on a plant rust fungus.
On these lists
Check words at the table, free
Tileside keeps score, checks words like this one during a challenge, tracks the tiles left in the bag and times turns. It runs in your phone's browser with no account and works offline.
Tileside checks words against the North American list, the NASPA Word List 2023. Your group's chosen dictionary always wins.
Word list: NASPA Word List 2023, used under license. NASPA Word List 2023 Edition © NASPA 2023. The copy included in this app is licensed for personal use. You may not use it for any commercial purposes.
Works with the Scrabble board game, played at the table. Tileside is an independent product, not affiliated with or endorsed by the makers of Scrabble.