Do you speak a little Arabic when you say 'cotton'?

'Cotton' is a word borrowed from Arabic 'quṭn'. The word entered the English language some time around the 14th century.

cotton [noun] [14th century]

• a soft usually white fibrous substance composed of the hairs surrounding the seeds of various erect freely branching tr...
• a plant producing cotton
• one grown for its cotton
• a crop of cotton

See 'cotton' on the Loan Words Map

See more loan words from Arabic.

Etymology: Middle English 'coton' from Anglo-French 'cotun' from Old Italian 'cotone' from Arabic 'quṭun' 'quṭn'

See more loan words from 1300s.