n.
Pronunciation: ' kä-t ə n
Function: noun
Usage: often attrib
Etymology: Middle English coton, from Anglo-French cotun, from Old Italian cotone, from Arabic qu ṭ un, qu ṭ n
Date: 14th century
1 a : a soft usually white fibrous substance composed of the hairs surrounding the seeds of various erect freely branching tropical plants (genus Gossypium ) of the mallow family b : a plant producing cotton especially : one grown for its cotton c : a crop of cotton
2 a : fabric made of cotton b : yarn spun from cotton
3 : a downy cottony substance produced by various plants (as the cottonwood)
cotton: 1 flowering branch; 2 fruit, unopened; 3 fruit, partly opened