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o·co·til·lo

(ō′kə-tēyō)

n. pl. o·co·til·los

A shrub (Fouquieria splendens) of Mexico and the southwest United States, having long spiny stems and clusters of scarlet tubular flowers.

[Mexican Spanish, from diminutive of Mexican and Central American Spanish ocote, a species of pine (Pinus oocarpa), from Nahuatl ocotl, pine, from Proto-Uto-Aztecan *wokon; compare Cahuilla wexet, Hopi löqö, Northern Paiute wogopi, Tohono O'odham huk.]

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ocotillo

Fouquieria splendens

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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