cottonwood

cottonwood noun: a tree from one of number of species of tree in the genus Populus (poplars), typically growing along watercourses, with fluffy catkins.

Image: EnLorax G. Edward Johnson, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

cottonwood (plural cottonwoods)

A tree from one of number of species of tree in the genus Populus (poplars), typically growing along watercourses, with fluffy catkins.
- 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...
- […] 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
Populus sect. Aigeiros, a taxonomic section of the poplar genus
A cottonwood hibiscus (Talipariti tiliaceum, syn. Hibiscus tiliaceus), a flowering shrub or tree in the mallow family.
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
Several species of trees endemic to New Zealand.

Proper noun capitalized: Cottonwood

Cottonwood

A surname.
A town in Houston County, Alabama.
A city in Yavapai County, Arizona.
A census-designated place in Shasta County, California.
A ghost town in Yolo County, California.
A former census-designated place and unincorporated community in Douglas County, Colorado, mostly now incorporated into the town of Parker.
An unincorporated community in Fayetteville, Fayette County, Georgia.
A city in Idaho County, Idaho.
A city in Lyon County, Minnesota.
A small unincorporated community in Coal County, Oklahoma.
An unincorporated community in Sequoyah County, Oklahoma.
A tiny town in Jackson County, South Dakota.
An unincorporated community in Callahan County, Texas.
A city in Kaufman County, Texas.

cottonwood meaning in Malay

cottonwood in Malay

Hibiscus tiliaceus: baru

Forms of cottonwood

plural	cottonwoods

Plural of cottonwood: cottonwoods

Origin of cottonwood

From cotton + wood.

Words formed from cottonwood

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

Phrases with cottonwood

Questions about cottonwood

What does cottonwood mean?: Cottonwood means a tree from one of number of species of tree in the genus Populus (poplars), typically growing along watercourses, with fluffy catkins.
What is cottonwood in Malay?: Cottonwood in Malay is baru. See Cottonwood meaning in Malay.
What part of speech is cottonwood?: Cottonwood can be a noun or a proper noun.
What is the plural of cottonwood?: The plural of cottonwood is cottonwoods.

Words near cottonwood in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: cottonwood (page history and authors); Cottonwood (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-cottonwood.wav.

Cite this entry: “cottonwood.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cottonwood. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.