How to say “cotton” in Chinese
cotton, cotton wool
“Cotton” in Chinese is 棉, mián: the meaning, a recording of how it sounds, the characters stroke by stroke and examples.
How to pronounce it
棉 is read mián. The tone is part of the word: with another melody you get another word, or just a jumble of sounds.
How to write it
On the left, 木 “tree”. On the right, 帛 “silk”: 白 “white” over 巾 “cloth”.
Strokes go in order: top to bottom and left to right, horizontal before vertical. Tap a character to open its page, with the strokes shown large and the words it appears in. To train your hand, print a handwriting sheet for “棉”.
Examples
Sentences from the course lessons with 棉. Tap the sound icon to listen.
- 这件衬衫是棉的，穿着很舒服。zhèjiànchènshānshìmiánde,chuānzhehěnshūfuThis shirt is cotton; it's very comfortable to wear.
- 这件衬衫是纯棉的zhèjiànchènshānshìchúnmiándeThis shirt is pure cotton.
More characters by topic — happiness, luck, strength, nature — on the page “Chinese characters with meanings”.
More words from the lesson “What's it made of?”
Look up another word in the Chinese–English dictionary: in English, in pinyin or in characters.
Frequently asked questions
How do you say “cotton” in Chinese?
“Cotton” in Chinese is 棉, pinyin mián.
What does 棉 mean?
棉 (mián) means “cotton, cotton wool”.
How do you write 棉?
棉 is 1 character. The stroke order of each one is shown step by step on this page.
How do you pronounce 棉?
棉 is read mián. Tones: mián — second tone. The page has a native speaker recording.
“cotton” in the lesson “What's it made of?”
This word is from the topic “Things and shopping” of HSK 6. In the lesson you hear it in a dialogue, build a sentence with it and say it out loud. Start for free, no sign-up needed.
Start for free