棉花
mián hua · HSK 7
cotton
🌱 棉 cotton-plant + 花 flower = the fluffy cotton boll
棉 is the cotton plant (木 tree radical + 帛 silk-cloth) and 花 means flower or blossom, so 棉花 is literally the cotton plant's bloom: the white fluff you spin into thread.
棉 — tree 木 + white 帛 (silk cloth)
棉 combines 木 (tree/plant) as the semantic component with 帛 (silk cloth) suggesting the soft, fibrous nature. It originally referred to the cotton plant, distinguishing plant-based cotton fiber from silk. The character emerged relatively late as cotton cultivation spread into China.
花 — grass radical 艹 + 化 (change/phonetic)
花 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The top 艹 (grass) signals the plant meaning, while 化 ('change, transform') gives the sound and hints at how buds change into blossoms. It originally meant 'flower' or 'blossom' and later extended to 'flowery, patterned, to spend.'