Cotton Meaning
/ˈkɒt.n̩/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounfibrous substance
nounfibrous substance, A soft, fibrous, usually white substance consisting of fine hairs, especially the substance around the seeds of a plant of genus Gossypium.
Sentence Examples
Someday I will buy a cotton candy machine.
I heard a cotton candy shop has just opened. Let's go, dudes.
They sell a wide variety of printed cotton fabric.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The beautiful dress was made of soft ____ from Egypt.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Someday I will buy a ____ candy machine.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English cotoun, from Anglo-Norman cotun, Old French coton, from (Genoese) Old Italian cotone, from Arabic قُطُن (quṭun), from Hebrew כֻּתֹּנֶת (kuttṓnĕṯ).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"K'a-shih has the most extensive cotton-growing area which amounted to 950 000 mou (6.3 million ares) in 1965."
— 1976, Chuen-Yan David Lai, “Developments of Cotton Cultivation in Sinkiang”, in Pacific Viewpoint, volume 17, number 2, →DOI, archived from the original on 30 Jun 2020, page 162:
"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."
— 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 2, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
"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."
— 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 34:
"Do not re-use needles; use fresh cottons each time."
— 1989 February 12, “Safer Sex and Drug Use Guidelines”, in Gay Community News, volume 16, number 30, page 12:
"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."
— 1986, W. E. B. Griffin, The Majors, →ISBN, page 52:
Explore More A2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The beautiful dress was made of soft ____ from Egypt.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Someday I will buy a ____ candy machine.