Translingual

Han character

綿 (radical 120 糸+8, 14 strokes, cangjie input 女火竹日月 (VFHAB), four-corner 2692₇, composition ⿰糹帛)

1. cotton wad
2. wool
3. soft, downy

References

• KangXi: page 928, character 17
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 27592
• Dae Jaweon: page 1366, character 6
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 5, page 3416, character 2
• Unihan data for U+7DBF

Chinese

Alternative forms

• 緜

Pronunciation

Noun

綿

1. cotton

References

• “Entry #10784”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (in Chinese and Min Nan), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2011.

Japanese

Kanji

(grade 5 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

• Goon: めん (men)
• Kan’on: べん (ben) (non-Jōyō reading)
• Kun: わた (wata)
• Nanori: う (u)

Etymology 1

綿 (men, wata): raw cotton on the bush.

From Middle Chinese 綿 ‎(miɛn, “wool; cotton; soft, downy”).

Pronunciation

• On'yomi: Kan'on
• (Tokyo) め​ん [méꜜǹ] (Atamadaka - [1])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [mẽ̞ɴ]

Noun

綿 ‎(hiragana めん, romaji men)

1. cotton (both the fiber and the cloth)

Usage notes

As a standalone noun, the term 木綿 ‎(momen, “cotton”, literally “tree or bush + woolly batting”) is used more often. This is especially true in speech, to avoid ambiguity with the various homophones, such as 面 ‎(men, “face”) or 麺 ‎(men, “noodle”).

Synonyms

• 木綿 (もめん) ‎(momen)

Etymology 2

From Old Japanese. Originally referred to any batting or stuffing, which was generally unspun silk. The meaning shifted after the spread of cotton in the Muromachi period.

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• (Tokyo) わた​ [wàtáꜜ] (Odaka - [2])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [ɰᵝa̠ta̠]

Alternative forms

• (both rare) 棉, 草綿

Noun

綿 ‎(hiragana わた, romaji wata)

1. the cotton plant
2. raw cotton
3. batting or stuffing
4. (figuratively) the state of being exhausted or extremely tired (likely from the hard work required to pick cotton)

   綿 (わた)のように疲 (つか)れた

   wata no yō ni tsukareta

   to be as tired as cotton → to be exhausted

Derived terms

References

1. 1 2 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9

Korean

Hanja

綿 • ‎(myeon) (hangeul 면, revised myeon, McCune-Reischauer myŏn, Yale myen)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Vietnamese

Han character

• Hán Việt: miên, men, mền, mên, min

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.