an ear of maize infected with a fungus that turns the kernels dark gray and deforms them, edible and considered a delicacy (see Karttunen); an ear of maize that is shriveled, degenerated, different from the rest (see Molina); also, a bird (see Hunn, attestations)
CUITLACOCH-IN/CUITLACOCH-TŌTŌ-TL, Curve-billed Thrasher (Toxostoma curvirostre) [FC: 51-52 Cujtlacochin/Cuitlacochtototl] “It has long legs, stick-like legs, very black; it has a pointed, slender, curved bill. It is ashen, ash-colored, dark ashen. It has a song, a varied song. It is named cuitlacochtototl, which is taken from its song, because it says cuitlacoch, cuitlacoch, tarata, tarat, tatatati, tatatati, titiriti, tiriti. It is capable of domestication; it is teachable. It breeds everywhere, in treetops, in openings in walls. Wherever it is inaccessible, there it breeds. Its food is insects, flies, water flies, flesh, ground maize.” This is the Curve-billed Thrasher. It is well known today throughout Mexico. The name is coincidentally nearly the same as that for the fungus (“huitlacoche.” Ustilago maydis) that infects maize ears and which is considered a culinary delicacy. However, the bird’s name is derived from CUĪC “to sing,” rather than from CUITLA-TL “excrescence” (“corn smut” on Wikipedia).
auh yn ie qujçaz qujiaujtl, yn ie tlamiz yn ie itzonco: njman ie ic tlatoa in cujtlacochi, ynezca, ynic ujtz, inic moquetzaz tlapaqujiaujtl: njman oalhuj, pipixcãme: no yoã oalhuj necujlicti, tletlecton, tzatzitinemj, ynezça ie uitz in cetl, ie ceuetziz = And when the rains were about to end, when they were soon to finish, to close, then the cuitlacochin bird cried—a forecast that continual, soft rain was about to set in. Then came the gulls. And also came the falcons, flying with much clamor. And they forecast when would come the ice, and that it would freeze. (16th century, Mexico City)
This is "huitlacoche" in contemporary Mexican Spanish.