mattress

English

Mattress

Etymology

From Middle English materas, from Old French, from Arabic مَطْرَح‎ (maṭraḥ, “place where something is thrown”), from طَرَحَ‎ (ṭaraḥa, “to throw”). Compare divan, from Persian via Turkish (both of Middle Eastern origin, due to the local custom of lying on padding on floor being foreign to Europeans).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmætɹɪs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

mattress (plural mattresses)

1. A pad on which a person can recline and sleep, usually having an inner section of coiled springs covered with foam or other cushioning material then enclosed with cloth fabric.
2. A form of retaining wall used to support foundations or an embankment

Derived terms

Derived terms

• air mattress
• go to the mattresses
• mattress cover

• mattress pad
• mattress topper

Translations

a pad on which a person can recline and sleep

• Albanian: dyshek (sq)
• Apache:

  Jicarilla: gołjóon

• Arabic: فِرَاش‎ m (firāš)
• Armenian: ներքնակ (hy) (nerkʿnak), դոշակ (hy) (došak)
• Asturian: colchón m
• Azerbaijani: döşək (az), matras
• Basque: lastaira
• Belarusian: матра́с m (matrás), матра́ц m (matrác)
• Bulgarian: матра́к m (matrák), дюше́к m (djušék)
• Catalan: matalàs (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 床褥 (cong⁴ juk^6-2)

  Mandarin: 床墊 (zh), 床垫 (zh) (chuángdiàn)

• Czech: matrace f
• Danish: madras (da) c
• Dutch: matras (nl) m
• Esperanto: matraco
• Estonian: madrats (et)
• Faroese: madrassa f
• Finnish: patja (fi)
• French: matelas (fr) m
• Galician: colchón m, xergón (gl) m
• Georgian: ლეიბი (leibi), მატრასი (maṭrasi)
• German: Matratze (de) f
• Greek: στρώμα (el) n (stróma)

  Ancient Greek: στρῶμα n (strôma), στρωμνή f (strōmnḗ)

• Haitian Creole: matla
• Hebrew: מִזְרָן‎ (he) m (mizran)
• Hindi: गद्दा (gaddā)
• Hungarian: matrac (hu), ágybetét (hu)
• Icelandic: dýna (is) f
• Indonesian: matras (id)
• Interlingua: matras
• Italian: materasso (it) m
• Japanese: 布団 (ja) (ふとん, futon), マットレス (ja) (mattoresu)
• Kabuverdianu: koltxon
• Kazakh: матрас (matras)
• Khmer: ពូក (km) (puuk)
• Korean: 매트리스 (ko) (maeteuriseu)
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji: doşek (ku) f, mitêl (ku) f, binrax (ku) f

  Sorani: دۆشەگ‎ (doşeg)

• Kyrgyz: матрас (matras)
• Lao: ຟູກ (fūk), ເບາະ (lo) (bǫ)
• Latin: culcita f
• Latvian: matracis
• Lithuanian: čiužinys, matracas
• Macedonian: душек m (dušek)
• Maori: whāriki moenga
• Marathi: गादी f (gādī)
• Mongolian: гудас (mn) (gudas)
• Nepali: please add this translation if you can
• Ngazidja Comorian: goɗoro class 5/6
• Norman: matenas m (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: madrass (no) m

  Nynorsk: madrass m

• Persian: تشک‎ (fa) (tošak), دوشک‎ (fa) (došak), برخوابه‎ (fa) (barxâbe)
• Polish: materac (pl) m
• Portuguese: colchão (pt) m
• Romanian: saltea (ro)
• Russian: матра́с (ru) m (matrás), матра́ц (ru) m (matrác)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: душек m, мадрац m

  Roman: dušek (sh) m, madrac (sh) m

• Spanish: colchón (es) m
• Swahili: godoro (sw), mto (sw)
• Swedish: madrass (sv) c
• Taos: pį̏ę’éna
• Thai: ฟูก (th) (fôok), เบาะ (th) (bòr)
• Tibetan: ཉལ་གདན (nyal gdan)
• Turkish: döşek (tr), yatak (tr), şilte (tr)
• Ukrainian: матра́с m (matrás), матра́ц m (matrác)
• Uzbek: toʻshak (uz), matras (uz)
• Vietnamese: nệm (vi)
• Volapük: matrad (vo)
• Welsh: matras f, matrasau m pl
• West Coast Bajau: kasur
• White Hmong: please add this translation if you can
• Zhuang: please add this translation if you can

engineering: a flat structure of brushwood or similar material used to provide a foundation for a structure including embankments

See also

• bottom sheet
• futon

Verb

mattress (third-person singular simple present mattresses, present participle mattressing, simple past and past participle mattressed)

1. (transitive) To cover with a thick layer, like a mattress; to blanket.
   • 1997, Andrew R. M. Patterson, A planet through a field of stars (page 123)

     A comfortable litter of pine needles had mattressed the ground and spreading branches had been a canopy overhead.

Anagrams

• smart set, smartest, smatters