Pillow

File:Throw Pillow.JPG

Not a pillow as the word is used in English. Instead, this might be called a bolster

A pillow is a soft cushion that a person puts under their head when they are sleeping in a bed.

A pillow is made from two pieces of cloth that are sewn together and stuffed with a soft material, such as feathers, duck down, or synthetic batting (man made soft stuffing). Pillows are usually rectangular. Pillows are covered with a fabric sheet called a pillowcase. The pillowcase protects the pillow from getting dirty.

The word pillow comes from Middle English pilwe, from Old English pyle (akin to Old High German pfuliwi) and from Latin pulvinus. The word pillow was first known to be used before the 12th century.

History

There is no clear inventor of the pillow. Millions of years ago, animals learned to use pillows. An early example is monkeys resting their heads on their arm. Many animals, including birds, use wood and stone nests as pillows. Many domesticated animals have also learned to make use of human-made pillows and cushions. They also rest on members of their own and other species for the same reason.

Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt

In ancient Mesopotamia, people slept on stone pillows. Pillows were a status symbol. Early pillows were rectangular and had grooves shaped for the head. Pillows showed the wealth of a person — the more a person owned the wealthier they were.

Anicent Egyptians used pillows as a solution to back, neck and shoulder pain. They also prevented insects from crawling in their hair, mouth or nose at night. Anicent Egyptian pillows were made out of wood and stone and looked like stands. These pillows were mostly used for the deceased.^+{{{1}}}_−{{{2}}}

Pillow Media

• Pillows on a hotel bed.jpg

  Pillows on a hotel bed

• Average White Pillow.jpg

  white pillow with brown background

• Egyptian wooden pillow with inscription on base Wellcome L0006750.jpg

  An ancient Egyptian wooden pillow.

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  A pottery pillow from the Jīn dynasty (1115–1234).

• Porcelain pillow, Huangling county, Jin dynasty (1115–1234), China.

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  A Japanese pillow filled with plastic tubes in a mesh sack.

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  The fruit-fibres of the silk-cotton tree (Ceiba pentandra) are used as filler for traditional pillows in India.

• Bed made with white bed linen. Four fluffy pillows and crumpled sheet <-- there is no duvet, but a woolen blanket unter the upper sheet -->. Original description: 350 thread count sheets. Down featherbed. Down duvet. Super fluffy pillows. Ahhhhhhh.Best. Bed. Evah.

• picture of a random pillow

• A body pillow with a light blue pillow case