pillow

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle English pilwe, from Old English pylwe, pylu, pyle (“pillow”), from Proto-Germanic *pulwį̄ (“pillow”), from Latin pulvīnus (“cushion”), of unknown origin. Cognate with Dutch peluw (“pillow, bolster”), German Pfühl (“pillow”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɪləʊ/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (UK)

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• Rhymes: -ɪləʊ

Noun

pillow (plural pillows)

1. A soft cushion used to support the head in bed.
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. A kind of plain, coarse fustian.

Derived terms

• pillow-biter
• pillow block
• pillow case
• pillow fight
• pillowing

• pillow lace
• pillow lava
• pillow sham
• pillowy

Translations

soft cushion used to support the head in bed

• Afrikaans: kussing
• Albanian: jastëk
• Amharic: ትራስ (təras)
• Arabic: وسادة f (wisāda), مِخدة f (Miḵadda)

  Egyptian Arabic: مخدة f (maḵádda)

• Armenian: բարձ (barj)
• Asturian: almuhada f
• Azeri: balış, yastıq (az)
• Bashkir: мендәр (mendär), яҫтыҡ (yaθtïq)
• Belarusian: падушка f (padúška)
• Bulgarian: възглавница f (vǎzglavnica)
• Catalan: coixí m
• Chechen: гӏайба (ġajba), (for sitting) миндар (mindar)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 枕頭, 枕头 (zh) (zhěntou)

• Chuvash: çытар (çytar), минтер (minter)
• Classical Nahuatl: cuāchicpalli, tzonicpalli
• Crimean Tatar: yastıq
• Czech: polštář (cs) m
• Danish: pude (da) c
• Dutch: kussen (nl) n
• Esperanto: kuseno
• Finnish: tyyny (fi)
• French: oreiller (fr) m
• Gagauz: yastık
• Galician: almofada (gl) f
• Georgian: ბალიში (bališi)
• German: Kopfkissen (de) n, Kissen (de) n; Ruhekissen n (Austria)
• Greek: μαξιλάρι (el) n (maxilári)
• Gujarati: ઓશીકું (gu) (oshiku)
• Hebrew: כרית (he) f (karít)
• Hindi: तकिया m (takiyā)
• Hungarian: párna (hu), vánkos (hu)
• Icelandic: koddi (is) m
• Indonesian: bantal (id)
• Interlingua: cossino
• Irish: adhairt f, ceannadhairt f
• Italian: guanciale m, cuscino (it) m
• Japanese: 枕 (ja) (まくら,　makura)
• Jèrriais: ouothilyi
• Kalmyk: дер (der)
• Karachay-Balkar: (Balkar) жастыкъ (castıq), (Karachay) джастыкъ (castıq)
• Kazakh: жастық (jastıq), көпшік (köpşik)
• Khakas: частых (çastıx)
• Korean: 베개 (ko) (begae)
• Kumyk: ястыкъ (yastıq), бойлукъ (boyluq)

• Kurdish:

  Sorani: سه‌نگیا (sangyA), سه‌رین (ku) (sareen)

• Kutenai: ʔa·kǂam̓xunam
• Kyrgyz: жаздык (cazdık), балыш (balış)
• Lao: ໝອນ (lo)
• Latgalian: spylvyns m
• Latvian: spilvens m
• Laz: ჲასტუღი (yastuḡi)
• Macedonian: перница f (pérnica)
• Malay: bantal
• Maltese: mħadda f
• Maori: urunga, pera
• Marathi: उषी (ushi)
• Mongolian: дэр (der)
• Ngazidja Comorian: mtao
• Norwegian: pute (no) c
• Ossetian: баз (baz)
• Persian: بالش (fa) (bâleš)
• Polish: poduszka (pl) f
• Portuguese: travesseiro (pt) m
• Romanian: pernă (ro) f, perină (ro)
• Russian: подушка (ru) f (podúška)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ја̀стук m, подушка f (archaic)

  Roman: jàstuk m, poduška f (archaic)

• Shor: частық (çastıq)
• Southern Altai: јастык (castıq)
• Spanish: almohada (es) f
• Swahili: mto (nc 3/4)
• Swedish: kudde (sv) c
• Tagalog: (literally) unan n
• Tajik: болиш (boliš)
• Tamil: தலைகாணி (ta) (talaighaaNi), தலையணை (ta) (thalayanai)
• Tatar: мендәр (tt) (mendär)
• Telugu: దిండు (te) (dinDu)
• Thai: หมอน (mŏn)
• Tupinambá: akangupapuku
• Turkish: yastık (tr)
• Turkmen: ýassyk
• Tuvan: сыртык (sırtıq)
• Ukrainian: подушка f (podúška)
• Urdu: تکیا m (takiyā)
• Uzbek: yostiq, bolish
• Vietnamese: cái gối, gối (vi)
• Vilamovian: kysła f
• Welsh: clustog
• Yakut: сыттык (sıttık)

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.
   • 1942: She had pillowed her head on her arm — Rebecca West, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (Canongate 2006, p. 815-6)