pillow

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

Abkhaz: please add this translation if you can Adyghe: шъхьантэ (ŝḥaante), (Shapsug) шъхьатэ (ŝḥaate) Afrikaans: kussing (af) Aghwan: please add this translation if you can 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 (yaθtıq) Basque: burko (eu), bururdi Bau Bidayuh: please add this translation if you can Belarusian: паду́шка f (padúška) Bengali: বালিশ (bn) (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 (ğajba), (for sitting) миндар (mindar) Chinese: Cantonese: 枕頭, 枕头 (zam2 tau4) Mandarin: 枕頭／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) (jastyq), көпшік (köpşık) Khakas: частых (çastıx) Khmer: ខ្នើយ (km) (khnaəy) Kikuyu: muuto class 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) (jazdık), 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 (yasťuği) Lithuanian: pagalvė f, priegalvis m Livonian: paḑā Luxembourgish: Këssen (lb) n, Kappkëssen n, Pillem (lb) n Lü: ᦖᦸᧃ (ṁoan), ᦖᦸᧃᦷᦠ (ṁoanḣo) Macedonian: перница f (pernica) Maguindanao: ulunan Malay: bantal (ms) Malayalam: തലയണ (ml) (talayaṇa) Maltese: mħadda f Manx: clooisag f Maori: urunga, pera Maranao: olonan Marathi: उशी (mr) f (uśī) Middle English: pilwe, cod, quysshyn, bolster Mirandese: almofada f Mongolian: Cyrillic: дэр (mn) (der) Nepali: सिरानी (sirānī) Ngazidja Comorian: mtao Nogai: ястык (yastık) Norman: ouothilyi m (Jersey) Norwegian: Bokmål: pute (no) m or f, hodepute m or f Nynorsk: pute f Occitan: coissin (oc) m Ojibwe: apikweshimon Old English: bolster (ang) m Old Norse: koddi m Oromo: boraatii 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: سِرْہاݨا‎ m (sirhāṇā) 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) class 3/4 Swedish: kudde (sv) c Tagalog: (literally) unan n, almohada n Tai Dam: please add this translation if you can Tai Nüa: please add this translation if you can 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: تَکْیَہ‎ m (takya), سِرْہانَہ‎ m (sirhāna) 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 Zulu: please add this translation if you can

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, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), OCLC 630079698, 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.