pillow

See also: Pillow

English

pillows (soft cushions)

Etymology

From Middle English pilwe, from Old English pylwe, pylu, pyle (“pillow”), from Proto-West Germanic *pulwī (“pillow”), from Latin pulvīnus (“cushion”), derived from pulvis (“dust, powder”) +‎ -īnus (“-ine”), for the filler of a pillow. Doublet of pulvinus.

Pronunciation

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

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɪloʊ/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• (US, dialectal) IPA^(key): /ˈpɛloʊ/
• Rhymes: -ɪləʊ

Noun

pillow (countable and uncountable, plural pillows)

1. A soft cushion used to support the head in bed.
   • 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

     And it is a pillow!

     Audio (US)

     (file)

2. (geology) A pillow lava.
3. (engineering) A piece of metal or wood, forming a support to equalize pressure; a brass; a pillow block.
4. (nautical) A block under the inner end of a bowsprit.
5. The socket of a pivot.
6. (uncountable) A kind of plain, coarse fustian.

Derived terms

• body pillow
• dirty pillow
• high pillow
• lace pillow
• pillow bag
• pillow basalt
• pillowbeer
• pillow-biter
• pillow block
• pillowbook
• pillow box
• pillowcase
• pillow fight
• pillow fort
• pillowing
• pillow lace
• pillow lava
• pillowless
• pillowlike
• pillow pouch
• pillow princess
• pillowslip
• pillow talk
• pillowtop
• pillow word
• pillowy
• throw pillow

 

Descendants

• → Maori: pera

Translations

soft cushion used to support the head in bed

• Adyghe: шъхьантэ (ŝḥāntă), (Shapsug) шъхьатэ (ŝḥātă)
• Afrikaans: kussing (af)
• Akan: sumiiɛ
• Albanian: mëkresë (sq) f, jastëk (sq) m
• Amharic: ትራስ (təras)
• Arabic: وِسَادَة‎ (ar) f (wisāda), مِخَدَّة‎ f (miḵadda)

  Egyptian Arabic: مخدة‎ f (maḵadda)

  Hijazi Arabic: مَخَدَّة‎ f (maḵadda)

  Moroccan Arabic: مخدة‎ (mḵadda), خدية‎ (ḵaddiyya)

• Armenian: բարձ (hy) (barj)
• Assamese: গাঁৰু (gãru), বালিছ (balis)
• Asturian: almuhada (ast) f
• Azerbaijani: balış (az), yastıq (az)
• Bashkir: мендәр (mendär), яҫтыҡ (yaθtïq)
• Basque: burko (eu), bururdi
• Belarusian: паду́шка f (padúška)
• Bengali: বালিশ (baliś)
• Bikol Central: ulunan (bcl)
• Brunei Malay: bantal
• Bulgarian: възгла́вница (bg) f (vǎzglávnica)
• Burmese: ခေါင်းအုံး (my) (hkaung:um:), အုံး (my) (um:)
• Buryat: дэрэ (dere)
• Catalan: coixí (ca) m
• Chechen: гӏайба (ġajba), (for sitting) миндар (mindar)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 枕頭, 枕头 (zam² tau⁴)

  Mandarin: 枕頭 (zh), 枕头 (zh) (zhěntou)

  Min Nan: 枕頭 (zh-min-nan), 枕头 (chím-thâu)

• Chuvash: ҫытар (śyt̬ar), минтер (mint̬er)
• Classical Nahuatl: cuāchicpalli, tzonicpalli
• Coptic: ϣϣⲟⲧ m (ššot) ⲙⲣⲱⲙ m (mrōm)
• Cornish: pluvek f
• Crimean Tatar: yastıq
• Czech: polštář (cs) m
• Danish: hovedpude (da) c
• Daur: derbe
• Dutch: hoofdkussen (nl) n, oorkussen (nl) n, kussen (nl) n
• Esperanto: kapkuseno
• Estonian: padi
• Faroese: koddi m
• Finnish: tyyny (fi)
• French: oreiller (fr) m, têtière (fr) f
• Gagauz: yastık
• Galician: traveseiro m, cabezal (gl) m, faceiroa f, almofada (gl) f, chomazo m
• Georgian: ბალიში (bališi)
• German: Kopfkissen (de) n, Kissen (de) n; Ruhekissen n (Austria), Polster (de) m or n (Austria)
• Gothic: 𐍅𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌴𐌹𐍃 m (waggareis)
• Greek: μαξιλάρι (el) n (maxilári), προσκέφαλο (el) n (proskéfalo)

  Ancient: προσκεφάλαιον n (proskephálaion), κνέφαλλον n (knéphallon)

• Gujarati: ઓશીકું (gu) (ośīkũ)
• Hebrew: כָּרִית‎ (he) f (karít)
• Higaonon: uluna
• Hiligaynon: almoháda
• Hindi: सिरहाना (hi) m (sirhānā), शिरोपधान m (śiropdhān)
• Hungarian: párna (hu), vánkos (hu)
• Icelandic: koddi (is) m
• Indonesian: bantal (id)
• Interlingua: cossino
• Inuktitut: ᐊᑭᓯᖅ (akisiq)
• Irish: adhairt f, ceannadhairt f, piliúr m
• Italian: guanciale (it) m, cuscino (it) m, testiera (it) f
• Japanese: 枕 (ja) (まくら, makura)
• Javanese: karang ulu (ngoko), kajang sirah (krama), bantal (jv) (krama-ngoko)
• Kalmyk: дер (der)
• Kanakanabu: 'ʉnʉ
• Kannada: ದಿಂಬು (kn) (dimbu)
• Kapampangan: ulnan
• Karachay-Balkar: (Balkar) жастыкъ (jastıq), (Karachay) джастыкъ (castıq)
• Kazakh: жастық (kk) (jastıq), көпшік (köpşik)
• Khakas: частых (çastıx)
• Khmer: ខ្នើយ (km) (knaəy)
• Kikuyu: muuto 3
• Korean: 베개 (ko) (begae)
• Kumyk: ястыкъ (yastıq), бойлукъ (boyluq)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: سەنگیا‎ (sengya), سەرین‎ (ku) (serîn)

  Northern Kurdish: balguh (ku), balîf (ku)

• Kutenai: ʔa·kǂam̓xunam
• Kyrgyz: жаздык (ky) (jazdıq), балыш (ky) (balış)
• Ladin: plumac m
• Ladino: almofada f, kavesal m

• Laboya: lunna
• Lao: ໝອນ (lo) (mǭn)
• Latgalian: spylvyns m
• Latin: cervīcal n, pulvīnus m
• Latvian: spilvens m, pagalvis m
• Laz: ჲასტუღი (yasṭuɣi)
• Lithuanian: pagalvė f, priegalvis m
• Livonian: paḑā
• Luxembourgish: Këssen (lb) n, Kappkëssen n, Pillem (lb) n
• Macedonian: пе́рница f (pérnica)
• Maguindanao: ulunan
• Malay: bantal (ms)
• Maltese: mħadda f
• Manx: clooisag f
• Maori: urunga, pera
• Maranao: olonan
• Marathi: उशी (mr) f (uśī)
• Middle English: pilwe, cod, cusshon, bolster
• Mirandese: almofada f
• Mongolian: дэр (mn) (der)
• Nepali: सिरानी (sirānī)
• Ngazidja Comorian: mtao
• Nogai: ястык (yastık)
• Norman: ouothilyi m (Jersey)
• Norwegian: pute (no) c
• Occitan: coissin (oc) m
• Ojibwe: apikweshimon
• Old English: bolster (ang) m
• Old Norse: koddi m
• Ossetian: баз (baz)
• Pashto: بالښت‎ (ps) m (bālᶕӽt)
• Persian: بالش‎ (fa) (bâleš)
• Polish: poduszka (pl) f, zagłówek (pl) m
• Portuguese: travesseiro (pt) m (chiefly Brazil), almofada (pt) f (chiefly Portugal)
• Punjabi:

  Gurmukhi: ਸਿਰਹਾਣਾ (pa) m (sirhāṇā)

  Shahmukhi: سِرْہاݨہ‎ m (sirhāṇh)

• Romanian: pernă (ro) f, perină (ro) f
• Russian: поду́шка (ru) f (podúška)
• Samoan: aluga
• Scottish Gaelic: cluasachan m, cluasag f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ја̀стук m, подушка f (archaic)

  Roman: jàstuk (sh) m, poduška f (archaic)

• Shor: частық (çastıq)
• Sinhalese: කොට්ටයක් (koṭṭayak)
• Skolt Sami: pooddâšǩ
• Slovak: vankúš (sk) m, poduška f
• Slovene: vzglavnik m, blazina (sl) f
• Southern Altai: јастык (ǰastïk)
• Spanish: almohada (es) f
• Swahili: mto (sw) 3 or 4
• Swedish: kudde (sv) c
• Tagalog: (literally) unan n, almohada n
• Tajik: болиш (boliš)
• Tamil: தலைகாணி (ta) (talaikāṇi), தலையணை (ta) (talaiyaṇai)
• Tatar: мендәр (tt) (mendär)
• Tausug: ūan
• Telugu: దిండు (te) (diṇḍu)
• Thai: หมอน (th) (mɔ̌ɔn)
• Tibetan: སྔས་ཤུབ (sngas shub)
• Toba Batak: halang ulu
• Tupinambá: akangupapuku
• Turkish: yastık (tr)
• Turkmen: ýassyk
• Tuvan: сыртык (sırtık)
• Ukrainian: поду́шка f (podúška)
• Urdu: تکیا‎ m (takiyā)
• Uyghur: ياستۇق‎ (yastuq), پەيقۇ‎ (peyqu)
• Uzbek: yostiq (uz), bolish (uz)
• Vietnamese: gối (vi)
• Vilamovian: kysła f
• Welsh: gobennydd (cy) m, clustog (cy) f
• White Hmong: tog hauv ncoo
• Yakut: сыттык (sıttık)
• Yami: tangen
• Yiddish: קישן‎ m (kishn)
• Yoruba: ìrọ̀rí
• Yup'ik: putuskaq
• Zazaki: balişna (diq)
• Zhuang: swiz

Verb

pillow (third-person singular simple present pillows, present participle pillowing, simple past and past participle pillowed)

1. (transitive) To rest as on a pillow.
   • 1834, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Francesca Carrara, volume 3, page 73:

     ...but Lucy was too thoroughly exhausted to awaken. There she lay, her head pillowed upon her arm, like a child that had cried itself to rest; while Francesca bent over her,...

   • 1942, Rebecca West, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (Canongate 2006, p. 815-6)

     She had pillowed her head on her arm.