cotton
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cotton¹
- /ˈkɒt.n̩/ UK
- [ˈkʰɒt.n̩] UK
- /ˈkɑt.n̩/ US
- [ˈkɑ.ʔn̩] US
Sounds like Cotten · Rhymes with -ɒtən
Where it comes from
From Middle English cotoun, from Anglo-Norman cotun, Old French coton, from (Genoese) Old Italian cotone, from Arabic قُطُن (quṭun), from Hebrew כֻּתֹּנֶת (kuttónĕṯ).
noun cottons
- A soft, fibrous, usually white substance consisting of fine hairs, especially the substance around the seeds of a plant of genus Gossypium.
- Any similar soft, fibrous, white substance of fine hairs, of any origin.
- A plant of genus Gossypium, used as a source of such fiber. K'a-shih has the most extensive cotton-growing area which amounted to 950 000 mou (6.3 million ares) in 1965.
- Any plant that encases its seed in a thin fiber that is harvested and used as a fabric or cloth.
- Textiles made from the fiber harvested from a cotton plant, especially Gossypium. Now that she had rested and had fed from the luncheon tray Mrs. Broome had just removed, she had reverted to her normal gaiety. She looked cool in a grey tailored cotton dress with a terracotta scarf and shoes and her hair a black silk helmet.
- An item of clothing made from such textiles. The little girls appeared, looking fresh and cool in pretty pink cottons, and we two elder ones seized the opportunity of making a more elaborate toilette than usual.
- A small piece of cotton used as a filter when drawing up a drug into a syringe. Do not re-use needles; use fresh cottons each time.
- Thread of such fiber.
- A wick of a candle.
adjective
- Made of cotton.
verb cottons · cottoning · cottoned
- To provide with cotton. Goddamned fools had cottoned the land, and just worked it to death, destroying the topsoil, so it blew away, and then, when the rains came, gullied it, so that it wasn't worth a damn for anything.
- To supply with a cotton wick. Supposing a frame, or set of moulds, as represented at B, to have wicks carried through each mould, or regularly cottoned, and each wick to be held accurately in the centre of the mould by means of the series of nippers shown at fig. 8, the moulds are first taken to the position shown at B 1, figs.
- To fill with a wad of cotton. First comes bottling, which is done both by machine and by hand. This is followed by cottoning and capping.
- To wrap with a protective layer of cotton fabric. When a tree is to be cottoned the ends from the cops are brought together and tied in a rough knot, which is hitched to a twig. Then, with the tube held upright, the operator walks round the tree as many times as may be necessary to cover it with lines of cotton, raising the metal tube about three f
- To cover walls with fabric. The rooms downstairs were cottoned, the doors re-hung, and a counter put in the record office.
- To cover with cotton bolls over a layer of tar (analogous to tar and feather ) Tar and cotton him," said a student from the college, more facetiously, perhaps, more mercifully inclined. " Think, fellows, what a pretty bird he will be, with cotton for feathers ; — so downy."
- To raise a nap, providing with a soft, cottony texture. The finishing operations consisted of shearing the nap from the cloth, and frizzing, or cottoning, the surface, by pressing with hot irons.
- To develop a porous, cottony texture. At this moment he saw the plate cottoning, as he expressed it, to his young friend, Charles Freeland, who sat in the pew at his right. He watched to see what the young merchant would give ; and to his amazement, he saw the young man put in a fifty dollar note!
- To give the appearance of being dotted with cotton balls. A fair piece ahead, in answering signal cottoned the sky in rhythmic puffs.
- To enshroud with a layer of whiteness. Fog cottoned the steep, wooded slopes on each side of the lake, and the air was chill and penetrating.
- To protect from harsh stimuli, coddle, or muffle. Jeanne's house, like Usher's, is a void of great silence and immobility and the "somnambulistic gardens" surrounding her house like Usher's tarn "cottoned the sound from the world."
- To rub or burnish with cotton. To oppress one's own workmen, and provide for the workmen of a neighbor — to skin those in charge of one's own interests while cottoning and oiling the residuary product of another's skinnery — that is not very good benevolence, nor very good sense, but it serves in place of both.
cotton²
Where it comes from
First use appears c. the 1560s, either from Welsh cydun, cytun (“agree, coincide”) (cyduno, cytuno), from cyd, cyt + un (“one”), literally “to be at one with”, or by metaphor with the textile, as cotton blended well with other textiles, notably wool in hat-making.
verb cottons · cottoning · cottoned
- To get on with someone or something; to have a good relationship with someone. What meanes this? doth he dote so much of this strange harlot indeed? now I perceiue how this geare cottens.
noun
-
A liking.
Similar: shine
Cotton³
Where it comes from
From Old English cottūn (“cottage farmstead”), from cot (“cottage”) + tūn (“homestead”).
proper noun
- A village and civil parish in Staffordshire Moorlands district, Staffordshire, England (OS grid ref SK0645).
- A village and civil parish in Mid Suffolk district, Suffolk, England (OS grid ref TM0767).
- An unincorporated community in Mitchell County, Georgia, United States.
- A township and unincorporated community therein, in Saint Louis County, Minnesota, United States.
- A habitational surname from Old English.
Cotton⁴
Where it comes from
From Hebrew קָתָן (katan, “small”).
proper noun
- A surname from Hebrew.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: cotton wool, cotton plant, wool, cot, causeway, bronze, min, pima, guinea, ciat, pickin, lint, yarn, thread, fiber, cloth
Translations
Every language
noun fiber
| Español | algodón |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 솜 면 som |
| 日本語 | 綿糸 menshi, コットン kotton |
| 中文 | 棉布 miánbù, 棉紗 /棉纱 miánshā, 棉絮 miánxù |
| हिन्दी | तूल tūl, कपास kapās, रूई rūī |
| Kiswahili | pamba |
| Português | algodão |
| Français | coton |
| Deutsch | Baumwolle |
| Italiano | cotone, bambagia |
| Ελληνικά | βαμβάκι vamváki |
| Română | bumbac, vată |
| Русский | хло́пок xlópok, ва́та váta, хлопчатая бумага xlopčataja bumaga |
| Tiếng Việt | bông |
noun any plant yielding fiber like that of Gossypium
| Español | algodón |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 면화 myeonhwa, 목화 mokhwa, 면 myeon |
| 日本語 | 綿 wata |
| 中文 | 棉花 miánhua, 棉 mián |
| हिन्दी | कपास kapās, गुड guḍ, पम्बा pambā |
| Kiswahili | pamba |
| Português | algodão |
| Français | coton |
| Deutsch | Baumwolle |
| Italiano | cotone |
| Ελληνικά | βαμβάκι vamváki |
| Română | bumbac |
| Русский | хло́пок xlópok, хлопча́тник xlopčátnik, хлопча́тая бума́га xlopčátaja bumága |
| Tiếng Việt | bông |
| العربية | قُطْن quṭn, قُطُن quṭun |
| עברית | כֻּתְנָה, כותנה kutná |
noun fabric
| Español | algodón |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 목화 mokhwa, 코튼 koteun, 면 myeon, 면포 myeonpo |
| 日本語 | 綿生地 menkiji, コットン kotton, 木綿 momen |
| 中文 | 棉 mián, 棉布 miánbù |
| हिन्दी | कपास kapās, सूती sūtī |
| Português | algodão |
| Français | cotonnade |
| Deutsch | Baumwolle |
| Italiano | cotone |
| Ελληνικά | βαμβάκι vamváki |
| Română | bumbac |
| Русский | хло́пок xlópok, хлопчатобума́жная ткань xlopčatobumážnaja tkanʹ |
| Tiếng Việt | bông |
| עברית | כֻּתְנָה, כותנה kutná |
adj made of cotton
| Español | de algodón |
|---|---|
| Português | de algodão |
| Deutsch | baumwollen, Baumwoll-, aus Baumwolle |
| Italiano | di cotone |
| Română | de bumbac |
| Русский | хло́пковый xlópkovyj, хлопчатобума́жный xlopčatobumážnyj, хлопча́тый xlopčátyj |
| العربية | قُطْنِي quṭnī |
verb have a good relationship
| Español | llevarse bien |
|---|---|
| Português | dar-se bem |
Talk about this word "cotton." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/cotton. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. cotton. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/cotton "cotton." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/cotton.
Cite this
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BibTeX
@misc{cotton_2026,
title = {cotton},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/cotton},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
