Cottonball

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small, round piece of soft fiber used for cleansing or absorbing substances through its fluffy texture
2. A spherical mass made from cotton, often utilized for personal care or medical purposes due to its absorbent nature
3. A lightweight, fluffy sphere of cotton, commonly employed for applying makeup, dressing wounds, or other hygiene tasks

Etymology: "Cottonball" is simply a closed-up spelling of "cotton ball," a compound of "cotton" and "ball." "Cotton" comes from Old French "coton," borrowed from Arabic "qutn," which named the plant whose soft fibres were spun into thread and cloth. "Ball," from Old Norse "bǫllr," originally denoted any round object, so the pairing describes a rounded mass of cotton fibre. The compound is transparent: nothing about it is idiomatic, and its meaning follows directly from its two parts. The spacing has simply varied over time, with the solid spelling now used alongside the separated form.

Synonyms: cotton ball