Origin

The character combines two components related to cloth and fiber. On the left is 糸, a strand of thread or silk, which marks this as a textile-related character. On the right is 帛, which represents fabric or cloth. Together they form a character meaning cotton—essentially "thread-made fabric," since cotton is spun into thread and then woven into cloth. This compound structure visually and conceptually builds up to the idea of cotton as a natural fiber that is processed into textile form.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).