sea island cotton
- noun
- /siː ˈaɪlənd ˈkɒtən/
- Specialized
:
algodón de las islas del mar
- She prefers clothing made from sea island cotton due to its soft texture and durability.
Examples
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The luxurious sheets are made from sea island cotton, which is known for its long, silky fibers.
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I believe it's called Sea Island cotton foaming soap.
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This is the Sea Island cotton with sheer and vitamin E.
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Farmers in the region specialize in cultivating sea island cotton, prized for its high quality.
Synonyms
A cotton plant with very long soft fibers used to make luxury cloth
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun phrase transparently combines 'sea' + 'island' as modifiers with 'cotton', so a learner who knows the words can infer it refers to cotton associated with sea islands (i.e. a type/variety of cotton grown on islands). While specific qualities like exceptionally long fibers are not deducible from the words alone, the core meaning is compositionally predictable and follows a common modifier+noun pattern.
Etymology
Sea island cotton names a type of cotton first grown on the Sea Islands, a group of small islands off the southern U.S. coast. The warm, wet island weather helped the plants make very long, silky fibers, so the name came to mean 'very fine, soft cotton' used for high-quality clothes.
