pillow
/ˈpɪ.loʊ/ [ˈpʰɪ.loʊ]
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.96 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Any similar head support used for sleep, such as a neck pillow or a hard porcelain pillow.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "The appearance of the entire tomb is as if the warrior had seen the vision of Christ in his dying moments, and had fallen back peacefully upon his pillow, with his eyes still turned to it, and his hands clasped in prayer."
- "She, walking like a killer She, another night another pillow Nowhere places, nowhere faces, no one wants to see […]"
- "She slept with her head on the pillow."
- "...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,..."
- "As we stop in front of a tenement to watch one of these groups, a dirty baby in a single brief garment—yet a sweet, human little baby despite its dirt and tatters—tumbles off the lowest step, rolls over once, clutches my leg with unconscious grip, and goes to sleep on the flagstones, its curly head pillowed on my boot."
- "She had pillowed her head on her arm."
Etymology
From Middle English pilwe, from Old English pyle, pylu (“pillow”), from Proto-West Germanic *pulwī (“pillow”), from Latin pulvīnus (“cushion”), derived from pulvis (“dust”), for the filler of a pillow. Doublet of pulvinus. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Peel (“pillow”), Alemannic German Pfulme (“pillow”), Dutch peluw (“a long, narrow pillow”), German Pfühl (“a big and soft pillow”), German Low German Pöhl (“pad, pillow, cushion”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈpɪ.loʊ/ [ˈpʰɪ.loʊ]
- British English: /ˈpɪ.ləʊ/