Huitlacoche or Cuitlacoche

[Karen Dakin]

I've always thought that the -coch- might be related to the -coch- in
tlancochtli, and has a meaning similar to 'molar', since the fungus on the
grains of cord looks very much likes black molars. The ko- part might be
related to the ke(') in 'teeth', since I think Uto-Aztecan *ke- (the e is a
barred 'i') at times is also reflected as a ko- in Nahuatl (other 'teeth'
words are ke'tzoma 'to bite' and kikisi 'to whistle').