cottonmouth
noun
cottonmouth is spelled C-O-T-T-O-N-M-O-U-T-H: 11 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 8 million words in written English, the 84,254th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, cottonmouth means “An oral dryness often associated with certain medicines and recreational drugs” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of cottonmouth is cottonmouths.
How many letters and syllables are in cottonmouth?
| Letters | 11: C-O-T-T-O-N-M-O-U-T-H |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 8 million words; the 84,254th 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 cottonmouth?
Cottonmouth appears about once in every 8 million words in written English, the 84,254th 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 cottonmouth?
- US
Cottonmouth 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)-Flame,_not_lame-cottonmouth.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with cottonmouth
Also written: cotton-mouth (one word or two).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of cottonmouth
- cottonmouths plural
- cotton-mouth
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does cottonmouth mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An oral dryness often associated with certain medicines and recreational drugs.
- 2
A snake, Agkistrodon piscivorus, the water moccasin.
- 3
A snake, Agkistrodon contortrix mokasen, the northern copperhead.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does cottonmouth come from?
From cotton + mouth.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).