Cotton in Different Languages
Discover 'Cotton' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Cotton
Afrikaans katoen | ||
Albanian pambuku | ||
Amharic ጥጥ | ||
Arabic قطن | ||
Armenian բամբակ | ||
Assamese কপাহ | ||
Aymara qhiya | ||
Azerbaijani pambıq | ||
Bambara kɔɔri | ||
Basque kotoia | ||
Belarusian бавоўна | ||
Bengali সুতি | ||
Bhojpuri रूई | ||
Bosnian pamuk | ||
Bulgarian памук | ||
Catalan cotó | ||
Cebuano gapas | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 棉 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 棉 | ||
Corsican cuttuni | ||
Croatian pamuk | ||
Czech bavlna | ||
Danish bomuld | ||
Dhivehi ކަފަ | ||
Dogri कपाह् | ||
Dutch katoen | ||
English cotton | ||
Esperanto kotono | ||
Estonian puuvill | ||
Ewe ɖetsifu | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) bulak | ||
Finnish puuvilla | ||
French coton | ||
Frisian katoen | ||
Galician algodón | ||
Georgian ბამბა | ||
German baumwolle | ||
Greek βαμβάκι | ||
Guarani mandyju | ||
Gujarati કપાસ | ||
Haitian Creole koton | ||
Hausa auduga | ||
Hawaiian pulupulu | ||
Hebrew כותנה | ||
Hindi कपास | ||
Hmong paj rwb | ||
Hungarian pamut- | ||
Icelandic bómull | ||
Igbo owu | ||
Ilocano kapas | ||
Indonesian kapas | ||
Irish cadás | ||
Italian cotone | ||
Japanese コットン | ||
Javanese katun | ||
Kannada ಹತ್ತಿ | ||
Kazakh мақта | ||
Khmer កប្បាស | ||
Kinyarwanda ipamba | ||
Konkani कापूस | ||
Korean 면 | ||
Krio kɔtin | ||
Kurdish pembo | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) لۆکە | ||
Kyrgyz пахта | ||
Lao ຝ້າຍ | ||
Latin bombacio | ||
Latvian kokvilna | ||
Lingala coton | ||
Lithuanian medvilnė | ||
Luganda pamba | ||
Luxembourgish kotteng | ||
Macedonian памук | ||
Maithili कपास | ||
Malagasy landihazo | ||
Malay kapas | ||
Malayalam പരുത്തി | ||
Maltese qoton | ||
Maori miro | ||
Marathi कापूस | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯂꯁꯤꯡ | ||
Mizo la | ||
Mongolian хөвөн | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) ဝါဂွမ်း | ||
Nepali कपास | ||
Norwegian bomull | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) thonje | ||
Odia (Oriya) କପା | ||
Oromo jirbii | ||
Pashto پنبه | ||
Persian پنبه | ||
Polish bawełna | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) algodão | ||
Punjabi ਸੂਤੀ | ||
Quechua utku | ||
Romanian bumbac | ||
Russian хлопок | ||
Samoan vavae | ||
Sanskrit तूली | ||
Scots Gaelic cotan | ||
Sepedi leokodi | ||
Serbian памук | ||
Sesotho k'hothone | ||
Shona donje | ||
Sindhi ڪپهه | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) කපු | ||
Slovak bavlna | ||
Slovenian bombaž | ||
Somali cudbi | ||
Spanish algodón | ||
Sundanese katun | ||
Swahili pamba | ||
Swedish bomull | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) bulak | ||
Tajik пахта | ||
Tamil பருத்தி | ||
Tatar мамык | ||
Telugu పత్తి | ||
Thai ผ้าฝ้าย | ||
Tigrinya ጡጥ | ||
Tsonga rigurhu | ||
Turkish pamuk | ||
Turkmen pagta | ||
Twi (Akan) asaawa | ||
Ukrainian бавовна | ||
Urdu روئی | ||
Uyghur پاختا | ||
Uzbek paxta | ||
Vietnamese bông | ||
Welsh cotwm | ||
Xhosa umqhaphu | ||
Yiddish וואַטע | ||
Yoruba owu | ||
Zulu ukotini |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | The Afrikaans word "katoen" derives from the Dutch word "katoen" which in turn comes from the Arabic word "qutn" meaning "the soft white substance surrounding cotton seeds." |
| Albanian | "Pambuku" also means "white" or "pure" in Albanian, which makes sense given the color and texture of cotton. |
| Amharic | "ጥጥ" can also mean "soft". When the wind is calm and the lake or river is undisturbed, it is said to be "ጥጥ". |
| Arabic | The word "قطن" (qutn) in Arabic, помимо "хлопка", имеет альтернативное значение "уверенность". |
| Armenian | Բամբակ (cotton) originates from Middle Persian pampak, and its cognate in Parthian pamwak, which is also the origin of the word 'bomb' in English. |
| Azerbaijani | The word "pambıq" comes from the Persian word "panbe", which itself is derived from the Sanskrit word "karpasa". |
| Basque | The word "kotoia" in Basque also refers to the "cotton plant", "cotton thread" and "cotton fabric". |
| Belarusian | The Belarusian word for "cotton" is also used to mean "cotton candy". |
| Bengali | The word "সুতি" (cotton) in Bengali is derived from the Sanskrit word "सूत्र" (thread). |
| Bosnian | In Bosnian, "pamuk" can also refer to "cotton fabric" or "cotton clothes" |
| Bulgarian | Памук is a Bulgarian word meaning "cotton" which is also used to refer to a soft, white, fluffy material, such as a cloud or a pillow. |
| Catalan | In old Catalan, "cotó" also meant "quilt" or "cover". In Spanish, "cotón" means "fluff". In French, "coton" can mean "wool". In English, "cotton" is a type of plant characterized by its soft, fluffy fibers. |
| Cebuano | In Philippine mythology, gapas is associated with the wind, and is said to be the source of the material from which the first woman was made. |
| Chinese (Simplified) | In Chinese, "棉" also refers to cotton plants or cottonseed, and is used in compound words like "棉花" (raw cotton) and "棉布" (cotton fabric). |
| Chinese (Traditional) | In ancient China, "棉" was used for "silk" as well, not just cotton. |
| Corsican | The Corsican term 'cuttuni' originates from the Arabic term 'al-qutn,' which refers to cotton plants and other malvaceous shrubs. |
| Croatian | The word "pamuk" also has two alternative meanings in Croatian: it can refer to 1) the fibers produced by the silk cotton tree ("Ceiba pentandra") or 2) the soft silky down of certain plants. |
| Czech | Bavlnka is also the Czech word for the plant yarrow or white horehound, a flowering herb that was traditionally used to heal wounds. |
| Danish | The word "bomuld" is derived from the Arabic word "qutn", which also means "cotton". The word may have entered Danish via Dutch or German. |
| Dutch | The word "katoen" likely originates from the Arabic word "qutn," meaning "fine, soft thread." |
| Esperanto | "Kotono" derives from Japanese (木綿, "cotton"), possibly via English or French. |
| Estonian | Puuvill is also used to describe a kind of fabric that has been treated to a chemical finish that gives it water resistance. |
| Finnish | In Northern dialects of Finnish, "puuvilla" refers to "cotton wool" or "cotton batting". |
| French | The French word « coton » can also refer to the fuzzy part of a peach. |
| Frisian | In Frisian, "katoen" comes from the Low German word "katun", which probably comes from the Italian word "cotone". It also refers to cotton waste and the lint that comes from flax. |
| Galician | In Galician, "algodón" can also mean "soft and fluffy material". |
| Georgian | "ბამბა" (cotton) originates from Farsi and can also refer to a type of cotton fabric |
| German | The word "Baumwolle" comes from the Middle High German word "bouwolle," which itself derives from the Arabic word "bawm," meaning "white plant." |
| Greek | The term "βαμβάκι" is a loanword from Arabic "بوط̈" (pronounced "quṭn"), which may itself derive from the Akkadian "būssu" or the Old South Arabian "bmp". |
| Gujarati | The word "કપાસ" in Gujarati can also refer to the cotton plant or the cotton boll. |
| Haitian Creole | The word "koton" in Haitian Creole is derived from the French word "coton" and can also refer to a type of fabric or thread. |
| Hausa | The Hausa word |
| Hawaiian | Pulupulu, like many Polynesian words for "cotton," stems from pulu meaning "down" or "fluff," from which feathers are called pulu manu and kapok fluff is called pulu hala. |
| Hebrew | The word "כותנה" (cotton) is derived from the Arabic word "qutn", which means both "cotton" and "linen". |
| Hindi | The word 'कपास' comes from the Sanskrit word 'karpasa', which also means 'cotton' and is the source of the English word 'cotton'. |
| Hmong | "Paj rwb" can also mean "white cotton" in Hmong. |
| Hungarian | The Hungarian word |
| Icelandic | In Icelandic, "bómull" can also refer to a type of medical gauze or a specific cotton fabric used for clothing. |
| Igbo | The Igbo word 'owu' also refers to a type of cloth made from cotton or a person known for their bravery. |
| Indonesian | Kapas derives from the Sanskrit word "karpasa", and is also the root of the name for the state of Karnataka in India. |
| Irish | In Irish, "cadás" can also refer to wool or waste material |
| Italian | In Italian, "cotone" can also refer to cloth, or to the downy part of plants. |
| Japanese | "コットン" (ko-ton), a word used in Japanese for "cotton," can also refer to a type of bandage in the medical field. |
| Javanese | In Javanese, "katun" can refer to both "cotton" and "cloth". Similar to English, where "cloth" can mean fabric made from various materials. |
| Kannada | The word 'ಹತ್ತಿ' also refers to cotton threads and can be used in the phrase 'ಹತ್ತಿಯ ಹಾರ', meaning a garland of cotton threads. |
| Kazakh | The word "мақта" also means "boast" or "brag" in Kazakh. |
| Khmer | The word "កប្បាស" (cotton) may be derived from the Pali word "kappa, |
| Korean | "면" can also mean "to avoid" or "to escape". |
| Kurdish | The word "pembo" can also refer to the cotton plant or the cotton industry. |
| Kyrgyz | The word "пахта" in Kyrgyz is a loanword from Persian and ultimately comes from Sanskrit "patt" meaning "thread" or "fabric". |
| Lao | The word "ຝ້າຍ" can also refer to a ball of thread in Lao. |
| Latin | The Latin word "bombacio" also refers to a plant's stuffing. |
| Latvian | Latvian "kokvilna" came from French-influenced Middle Low German word "kokenwol" meaning "cotton wool". |
| Lithuanian | The word „medvilnė“ derives from the Sanskrit „mallavati“, meaning „twisted skein“. |
| Luxembourgish | The word "Kotteng" in Luxembourgish is derived from the Old High German word "chotto", meaning "cotton". It also has the alternate meaning of "wick" in Luxembourgish. |
| Macedonian | In Turkish, it also means ‘a tuft of cotton,’ ‘a flake of snow,’ or ‘the nap of velvet’. |
| Malagasy | The word "landihazo" also refers to a cotton-like material made from the bark of a certain type of tree. |
| Malay | In Sanskrit, “kapas” referred to the seed of the cotton plant, while in Malay it means the cotton itself. |
| Malayalam | The word 'പരുത്തി' ('cotton') in Malayalam shares its etymology with the Sanskrit word 'कुटीरा' ('cottage'), referring to the small-scale cottage industry surrounding its cultivation. |
| Maltese | The Maltese word "qoton" ultimately derives from the Arabic word "qutun", meaning "cotton plant", and is cognate with the English word "cotton". |
| Maori | The word miro can also refer to the Miro plant (Podocarpus ferrugineus), a species of conifer native to New Zealand. |
| Marathi | The word "कापूस" (cotton) in Marathi is derived from the Sanskrit word "कपास" (kapas), which means "fibrous substance". |
| Mongolian | The word "хөвөн" in Mongolian also refers to a type of wild goat known as the Asiatic ibex. |
| Nepali | The word "कपास" (kapas) in Nepali is derived from the Sanskrit word "karpāsa", which also means "cotton". |
| Norwegian | Bomull comes from the Latin word "bombacius", meaning "cotton wool". |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | The word 'thonje' is also used to mean 'a thread' or 'a piece of cloth'. |
| Pashto | The word "پنبه" in Pashto has a similar root to the Sanskrit word "karpasa", both meaning "cotton plant". |
| Persian | The Persian word "پنبه" is also used to describe a soft, downy substance, such as the fur of a rabbit or the hair on a baby's head. |
| Polish | In Polish, "bawełna" can also refer to a type of soft, fluffy fabric made from cotton. |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | In Portuguese, the word "algodão" also refers to the tree used to make cotton, known as the cotton tree or silk-cotton tree. |
| Punjabi | ਸੂਤੀ also refers to a person belonging to the cotton caste, a sub-caste of the Arora people in Punjab. |
| Romanian | The word “bumbac” comes from the Turkish word “pamuk” which also means “cotton”. |
| Russian | The word "хлопок" (khlopok) is derived from the Proto-Slavic root *xlopъ, meaning "fibrous plant" or "thread," and is related to other Slavic words for textiles such as "ткань" (tkan', "fabric") and "полотно" (polotno, "linen"). |
| Samoan | The word 'vavae' can also refer to a type of traditional Samoan skirt made from cotton. |
| Scots Gaelic | The Gaelic word 'cotan' is cognate with Welsh 'coten', Old Irish 'cōtain', as well as with Latin 'cottus' and Greek 'κοττος' (kottos), all meaning 'quilt' or 'felt'. |
| Serbian | In some contexts, the word "памук" can also refer to "cotton candy". |
| Sesotho | The Sesotho term 'k'hothone' derives from the Bantu root '-khoth-', signifying 'to pull out or pluck'. |
| Shona | The word 'donje' in Shona also refers to the material used for making traditional clothing worn by both men and women. |
| Sindhi | The word "ڪپهه" also refers to the cotton plant in Sindhi. |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | "කපු" (Kapu) is a term used in Sri Lanka to refer to a variety of substances, including cotton, kapok, and floss silk. |
| Slovak | The word "bavlna" is derived from the German word "Baumwolle" via the Hungarian word "bavalna". |
| Slovenian | "Bombaž" in Slovenian derives from the German word "Baumwolle" (cotton), originating from the medieval Latin "bombax" (cotton wool). |
| Somali | Cudbi is also the term for 'soft like cotton', indicating the comfort of the fabric. |
| Spanish | "Algodón" is derived from the Arabic word "al-qutn" meaning "the cotton plant." |
| Sundanese | The word "katun" likely originates from the Sanskrit word "karpas" and also refers to "clothes" in Sundanese. |
| Swahili | Pamba has an alternate meaning of 'pad', such as a sanitary pad |
| Swedish | The word 'bomull' has also been used in Swedish to refer to the down of the eider duck. |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | The word "bulak" also refers to the fibers in coconut husks or the cotton-like material on silk trees. |
| Tajik | The word "пахта" derives from the Persian word "پخته" (pakhta), meaning "cooked" or "ripe". |
| Tamil | The Tamil word 'பருத்தி' ('parutti') is also used to describe the raw material 'unprocessed cotton' in its unspun state before being made into cotton thread, yarn or fabric. |
| Telugu | The word "పత్తి" can also refer to a flower in Telugu. |
| Thai | ผ้าฝ้าย is also used to refer to cotton fabrics, such as poplin, voile and swiss cotton. |
| Turkish | Pamuk is also a surname in Turkey, meaning "made of cotton" or "like cotton". |
| Ukrainian | In the Ukrainian language, the word "бавовна" also means "explosion" in a slang manner. |
| Urdu | روئی also connotes a 'soft' or 'downy' texture in Urdu. |
| Uzbek | "Paxta" is derived from the Persian word "pakhta", which also means "cotton". |
| Vietnamese | Bông is also used in Vietnamese to refer to a type of tree with soft, fluffy seeds, similar to cotton. |
| Welsh | The Welsh word |
| Xhosa | The term "umqhaphu" in Xhosa also refers to a type of fabric made from cotton. |
| Yiddish | The Yiddish word "וואַטע" has an alternate meaning of "wadding" or "padding." |
| Yoruba | The word "owu" in Yoruba is believed to have originated from the exclamation "Owu o!", meaning "Look at the cotton!" |
| Zulu | The Zulu word 'ukotini' is also used to describe the white, fluffy substance found inside mature seedpods of certain plants. |
| English | Cotton comes from Arabic "qutn", which also referred to the cotton plant and the fabric made from it. |