Cottonweed

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A plant producing seeds or seed heads with a soft, downy, cotton-like appearance
2. Any of several plants bearing fluffy or woolly seed structures resembling cotton
3. A plant characterized by seeds or flower parts with a cottony or silken texture

Etymology: Cottonweed is a plain compound: "cotton" joined to "weed," so the name describes a plant whose seeds are wrapped in cottony fibre. "Weed" in this sense is the older English word for a herbaceous plant or herb, not specifically an unwanted plant, which is why the name sits comfortably alongside other plant names that use it. The "cotton" half carries the more interesting history. The fibre was named after the cotton plant, and the word traces back through Old French "coton" to Arabic "qutun," showing how a material that reached Europe along trade routes gave its name to a wild plant whose seeds merely looked like it. Because the fibre is what gives the plant its character, the compound reads as a description rather than a botanical classification.