popotillo

noun

"popotillo" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“popotillo” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
9
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A leafless desert shrub of the US Southwest in the genus Ephedra, used to make an herbal tea.

Key facts for popotillo
PropertyValue
Headwordpopotillo
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters9
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “popotillo” sits in English frequency

popotillo falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

popotillo is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A leafless desert shrub of the US Southwest in the genus Ephedra, used to make an herbal tea.".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for popotillo, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Spanish popotillo from popote (“straw”) + -illo (“little”). The correct English form is popotillo, spelled P-O-P-O-T-I-L-L-O.

Definition

  1. 1
    A leafless desert shrub of the US Southwest in the genus Ephedra, used to make an herbal tea.

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish popotillo from popote (“straw”) + -illo (“little”).

Synonyms

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "popotillo"?
"popotillo" is spelled P-O-P-O-T-I-L-L-O.
What does "popotillo" mean?
As a noun, "popotillo" means: A leafless desert shrub of the US Southwest in the genus Ephedra, used to make an herbal tea.
What is the origin of the word "popotillo"?
Borrowed from Spanish popotillo from popote (“straw”) + -illo (“little”). 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.

Using “popotillo”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is P-O-P-O-T-I-L-L-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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