Dictionary

cottonwood en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From cotton + wood.

Meanings

1. A tree from one of number of species of tree in the genus Populus (poplars), typically growing along watercourses, with fluffy catkins.
   • […] and through the middle of this forest, from wall to wall, ran a winding line of brilliant green which marked the course of cottonwoods and willows. 1912 January, Zane Grey, chapter 8, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC:
   • Between these canyons the river has a low but rather narrow flood plain, with cottonwood groves scattered here and there, and a chaparral of mesquite bearing beans and thorns. 1895, J[ohn] W[esley] Powell, chapter I, in Canyons of the Colorado, Meadville, PA: Flood & Vincent; republished as The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons, New York: Dover, 1961, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 20:
   • The leaves of a small bush echoed the yellow cottonwoods that are so characteristic of the Rio Grande Valley in late fall. 2021, Peter Cavanagh, “9. Cranes”, in 100 Flying Birds: Photographing the Mechanics of Flight, →ISBN, page 218:
2. Populus sect. Aigeiros, a taxonomic section of the poplar genus
3. A cottonwood hibiscus (Talipariti tiliaceum, syn. Hibiscus tiliaceus), a flowering shrub or tree in the mallow family.
4. A tree of species Ceiba pentandra, native to the American tropics and west Africa; silk-cotton tree.
   • There is no break in the trees. That is the wonder and the mystery of it. There where you see light-green rushes instead of dark-green undergrowth, there between the great cotton woods, that is my private gate into the unknown. 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
5. Several species of trees endemic to New Zealand.

Forms

Deriveds

lanceleaf cottonwood · river cottonwood · cottonwood leaf-mining beetle · narrowleaf cottonwood · northern cottonwood · coastal cottonwood · cottonwood borer · balsam cottonwood · mountain cottonwood · swamp cottonwood · coast cottonwood · yellow cottonwood · cottonwood leaf beetle · Great Plains cottonwood · Wislizenus's cottonwood · cottonwood hibiscus · Fremont cottonwood · black cottonwood · willow cottonwood · green cottonwood · eastern cottonwood · plains cottonwood

Translations (31)

tr kavak (tree from Populus with fluffy catkins) · aht tʼaghes (tree from Populus with fluffy catkins) · tew tay (tree from Populus with fluffy catkins) · gv pobbyl (tree from Populus with fluffy catkins) · taa t'egheth (tree from Populus with fluffy catkins) · de Pappel (tree from Populus with fluffy catkins) · pl topola (Tree species endemic to New Zealand) · nv tʼiis (tree from Populus with fluffy catkins) · ms baru (Hibiscus tiliaceus) · dgr t'ooh (tree from Populus with fluffy catkins) · es álamo (tree from Populus with fluffy catkins) · pl ketmia lipowata (Hibiscus tiliaceus) · pl topola (tree from Populus with fluffy catkins) · tfn esni (tree from Populus with fluffy catkins) · apw bitʼiis (tree from Populus with fluffy catkins) · mi tauhinu korokio (Tree species endemic to New Zealand) · twf túłoną (tree from Populus with fluffy catkins) · ing t'ighith (tree from Populus with fluffy catkins) · mi taihinu (Tree species endemic to New Zealand) · haw hau (Hibiscus tiliaceus) · gwi t'oo (tree from Populus with fluffy catkins) · tfn tʼghes (tree from Populus with fluffy catkins) · chy xamaehoohtsêstse (tree from Populus with fluffy catkins) · ru тополь (tree from Populus with fluffy catkins) · mi tauhinu (Tree species endemic to New Zealand) · chr ᎠᏓ ᎬᏂᎯᏛ (tree from Populus with fluffy catkins) · oka múlx (tree from Populus with fluffy catkins) · fi poppeli (tree from Populus with fluffy catkins) · kuu t'ighis (tree from Populus with fluffy catkins) · mi tauhinu koromiko (Tree species endemic to New Zealand) · unm këkchëkwipahkihëlas (tree from Populus with fluffy catkins)