Cottonian

C3O1T1T1O1N1I1A1N1
UK/kɒˈtəʊ.ni.ən/US/kɑˈtoʊ.ni.ən/

adjective

Of or relating to Sir Robert Cotton, 1st Baronet, of Connington (1571–1631), antiquarian and bibliophile whose Cotton library became the basis of the British Library.

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Meanings

adjectiveCottonian (not comparable)
  1. not comparableOf or relating to Sir Robert Cotton, 1st Baronet, of Connington (1571–1631), antiquarian and bibliophile whose Cotton library became the basis of the British Library.
  2. not comparableOf or relating to the Cotton Library or texts originally of that library.

    Twenty-six years later occurred the disastrous fire in which so many of the Cottonian MSS. were either destroyed or, as the Beowulf MS., damaged.

    1914, A.J. Wyatt and R.W. Chambers, Beowulf with the Finnesburg Fragment, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, published 1968, page x

Origin

From Cotton + -ian.

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Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with Cottonian

SmithsonianEstonianMacedonianhamiltoniannewtonianCaledoniandraconianOregonianIonianBostonianDevonianamazonianDobsonianJeffersonianWashingtonianJagiellonianparkinsonianjacksonianWilsonianPetroniusPrincetonianPoissonianCatalonianHoustonian
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Cite this entry
APA

Cottonian. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Cottonian

MLA

“Cottonian.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Cottonian. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Cottonian,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Cottonian.

Source: Cottonian on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.