Etymologically
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cotton

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈkɒt.ən/, US /ˈkɑː.tən/[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English coton, borrowed from Old French coton,[2][3][4] from Arabic qutn, dialect qutun (Spanish Arabic qoton),[2][5][4] perhaps of Egyptian origin.[3] Through Provençal, Italian or Old Spanish it reached French.[3] The Arabic word is also the source of Dutch katoen, German Kattun, Italian cotone and, with the Arabic article al-, Spanish algodón and Portuguese algodão.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The soft white fibre around the seeds of the cotton plant: 1286 in Barnhart, 1300 in the OED; a candlewick of cotton is from 1290.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

The cotton plant is from about 1400, and cloth made of cotton from the early 15th century.[6][3] Cotton thread for sewing is from 1848.[6] The verb first meant to raise a nap on cloth (1488, Scottish);[2][4] perhaps from this, it came to mean to prosper or succeed and, of things, to suit (1567),[2][3] then of people to get on together (about 1600) and to take a liking to (1805).[3][2] Etymonline also mentions a possible link with Welsh cytuno “to agree”.[3] Cotton on, to understand, is a later colloquial sense.[7][8] The cotton gin is from 1794,[3] cottontail from 1869, and cotton candy from 1926.[2] Philip Miller of the Chelsea Physic Garden sent the first cotton seeds to the colony of Georgia in 1732.[3]

Timeline

  • 1286 – the fibre.[2]
  • c. 1400 – the cotton plant.[6]
  • early 15th century – cotton cloth.[3]
  • 1567 – the verb, to prosper, suit.[2]
  • 1794 – cotton gin.[3]
  • 1805 – to take a liking to.[2]
  • 1848 – cotton thread.[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The soft white fibre around the seeds of a tropical plant, used to make cloth and thread.
  2. The plant that produces it.
  3. Cloth or thread made from this fibre.

Verb

  1. (cotton on, informal) To understand or realize.
  2. (cotton to, informal) To take a liking to.

Word family

  • uncottoned
  • cottontail
  • cotton candy
  • cotton wool

Usage notes

Cotton was also the name of a coarse woollen cloth made in northwest England and Wales from the 16th century (Manchester cotton, Welsh cotton).[9][6]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press