poteen
/pəˈtiːn/
"poteen" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“poteen” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Illegally produced Irish whiskey; moonshine.
Corpus desk
Index EN-poteen · poteen · English
poteen · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "P" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | poteen |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /pəˈtiːn/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “poteen” in English
Rare enough to double-check
poteen is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /pəˈtiːn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for poteen in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Irish poitín (“little pot; poteen”), from pota (“pot”) (from Middle English potte, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *budn- (“type of vessel”)) + -ín (diminutive suffix). The correct English form is poteen, spelled P-O-T-E-E-N.
Definition
- 1Illegally produced Irish whiskey; moonshine.
- 2An unlicensed drinking establishment selling illegally produced Irish whiskey.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how poteen appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The Irish peasantry practice the distillation of that illicit spirituous liquor, so well known by the name of poteen whiskey, with a most unaccountable infatuation.
[A] detachment, consisting of a subaltern’s party, was on its road to Head Quarters, from a still hunting in the mountains, or hostile excursion after contrabandists, or distillers of that delicious fluid, Potheen whiskey, […] It is related that when he [George IV of the United Kingdom] had drained the first glass that was presented to him, he declared th…
Etymology
From Irish poitín (“little pot; poteen”), from pota (“pot”) (from Middle English potte, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *budn- (“type of vessel”)) + -ín (diminutive suffix).
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.