cottonwood

Etymology

It is a compound from English cotton + wood,^[2][3][4] named after the cotton-like tuft of hairs around the seeds.^[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Any of several American poplars: 1787, in M. Cutler's journal.^[2] The Dictionary of American Regional English quotes cotton wood from Ellicott's journal of 1802,^[6] the year Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives;^[5] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1795–1805 and calls it an Americanism,^[4] and Etymonline gives 1823.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The name spread with American settlement: the Dictionary of American Regional English finds it chiefly west of the Appalachians, beside other names for poplars such as alamo and cotton tree, and in a few places perhaps for the catalpa.^[6] In Australia it was applied from 1889 to an evergreen shrub, Bedfordia salicina,^[2][5][7] and in New Zealand cottonwood is another name for the shrub called tauhinu.^[8][9]

Timeline

• 1787 – an American poplar with cottony seeds.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to 1823.^[3]
• 1889 – an Australian evergreen shrub, Bedfordia salicina.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Any of several North American poplars, especially Populus deltoides, whose seeds bear tufts of cottony hairs: Cottonwoods lined the dry creek bed.^[8][5][2][6]
2. (Australia) An evergreen shrub with downy leaves, Bedfordia salicina; also a coastal tree, Hibiscus tiliaceus.^[7][2][5]
3. (New Zealand) A shrub, Cassinia leptophylla, also called tauhinu.^[8][9]

Related words

• cotton
• wood
• poplar

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Cassidy, Frederic G. & Joan Houston Hall (eds.) (1985–2002), Dictionary of American Regional English, vols I–IV, Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
7. ^ a b The Macquarie Dictionary (2013), 6th ed., Sydney: Macquarie Dictionary Publishers
8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b Deverson, Tony; Kennedy, Graeme, eds. (2005), The New Zealand Oxford Dictionary, Auckland: Oxford University Press