# tobacco

> English word · Noun · IPA /təˈbæk.əʊ/ · frequency rank #5,276

## Definitions
1. Any plant of the genus Nicotiana.
2. Leaves of Nicotiana tabacum and some other species cultivated and harvested to make cigarettes, cigars, snuff, for smoking in pipes or for chewing.
3. A variety of tobacco.

## Etymology
Attested since 1588, borrowed from Spanish tabaco. The Spanish word could be from Arabic طُبَّاق (ṭubbāq, “Dittrichia viscosa”) or from a Caribbean language such as Kari'na or Taíno or multiple of them, from a word meaning "roll of tobacco leaves" or "a pipe for smoking tobacco," such as tabago (“tube for inhaling smoke or powdered intoxicating plants”).

## Easily confused with
- **Tobago** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tobacco-vs-tobago)
- **tabasco** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tabasco-vs-tobacco)

## Common misspellings (8)
`otbacco`, `tboacco`, `toabcco`, `tobaco`, `tobacoc`, `tobbacco`, `tobcaco`, `ttobacco`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/tobacco