Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·Arabic ·1300s
Cotton
from quṭn
- Meaning
- The fibre and cloth from the *Gossypium* plant.
- Source word
- quṭn
- Route into English
- Arabic → Old French *coton* → Middle English. Arabic traders were the main European source for raw cotton until the early modern period; the Spanish and Italian wool trades adopted the word from them.
- Arrived
- 1300s
From Arabic
Science, trade, and the Mediterranean transit of Andalusian scholarship gave English its Arabic stratum — especially in maths, chemistry, and commerce. Many entered through Latin or Italian.
English borrows.
Browse the full loanword atlas or explore another source language.