popolo

noun

"popolo" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“popolo” is uncommon English (frequency #86,647 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#86,647
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - black nightshade (Solanum nigrum).

Corpus desk

Index EN-popolo · popolo · English

popolo · rank #86,647 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #86,647
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH porphyria

Nearest frequency peer: porphyria (+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 “popolo”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “popolo” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for popolo
PropertyValue
Headwordpopolo
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters6
Frequency rank#86,647
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “popolo” sits in English frequency

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).popololands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “porphyria” (#86,648), “polyclonal” (#86,644), “Polson” (#86,643). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

popolo is uncommon English at frequency #86,647 among 4,417 “P” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

popolo has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Hawaiian pōpolo from Proto-Polynesian *polo; cognate with Māori poroporo and pōporo (Solanum aviculare), Tongan polo (“Solanum nigrum”) and Tuvaluan 'opolo (“capsicum”). Skin color meaning comes from analogy to the color of its berries. The correct English form is popolo, spelled P-O-P-O-L-O.

Definition

  1. 1
    black nightshade (Solanum nigrum).
  2. 2
    A black person.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how popolo appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The only lack of Kalelealuaka and his comrades was animal food (literally fish) but they supplied its place as well as they could with such herbs as the tender leaves of the popolo, which they cooked like spinach, and with inamona made from the roasted nuts of the kukui tree.
  2. Popolo is a branching green herb with a tendency to being woody at the base. This annual grows one to three feet high on cultivated land and is regarded as a common weed.

Etymology

Borrowed from Hawaiian pōpolo from Proto-Polynesian *polo; cognate with Māori poroporo and pōporo (Solanum aviculare), Tongan polo (“Solanum nigrum”) and Tuvaluan 'opolo (“capsicum”). Skin color meaning comes from analogy to the color of its berries.

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "popolo"?
"popolo" is spelled P-O-P-O-L-O.
What does "popolo" mean?
As a noun, "popolo" means: black nightshade (Solanum nigrum).
What is the origin of the word "popolo"?
Borrowed from Hawaiian pōpolo from Proto-Polynesian *polo; cognate with Māori poroporo and pōporo (Solanum aviculare), Tongan polo (“Solanum nigrum”) and Tuvaluan 'opolo (“capsicum”). Skin color meaning comes from analogy to the color of its berries. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "popolo", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

What to do next

You've looked up "popolo". Here's where to go from here.

  • Usage frequency rank #86,647 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
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PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list