pothead
noun
pothead is a derogatory noun meaning “A person who smokes cannabis frequently, or to excess” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled P-O-T-H-E-A-D, and it appears about once in every 5 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of pothead is potheads.
What does pothead mean?
noun
- 1
derogatoryslangA person who smokes cannabis frequently, or to excess.
That pothead Shane has a nasty bong.
- 2
CanadaAn electric motor's terminal connection or wiring box.
- 3
derogatoryobsoleteslangA stupid individual; a fool.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce pothead?
- Australia
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-pothead.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of pothead
- potheads plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is pothead?
Pothead appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 65,913th 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).
Pothead in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense a person who smokes cannabis frequently:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | poteux |
| German | Kiffer, Kifferin |
| Portuguese | maconheiro, maconheira |
| Spanish | marihuano, mariguano, marihuanero, mariguanero, motero, fumeta |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does pothead come from?
First sense appears c. 1957 in the writings of Jack Gelber. Third sense appears c. 1639.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).