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elotzontli.

Headword: 
elotzontli.
Principal English Translation: 

corn tassel (see Karttunen); literally, the hair of the corn cob; the corn plant has a tassel (masculine) at the top of the plant, but each cob has silk (feminine). The elotzontli might really refer to the "hair" on the top of the cob rather than the tassel at the top of the plant.

Orthographic Variants: 
ēlōtzontli
IPAspelling: 
eːloːtsontɬi
Frances Karttunen: 

ĒLŌTZON-TLI corn tassel / cabello de elote (Z) [(2)Zp.22,153]. This contrasts with ĒLTZON-TLI ‘a turkey’s chest tassel.’ See ĒLŌ-TL, TZON-TLI.
Frances Karttunen, An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992), 77.