Pillow

Standard pillows for use on beds

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

Apillowis a softcushionthat a person puts under their head when they are sleeping in a bed.

A pillow is made from two pieces ofcloththat are sewn together and stuffed with a soft material, such asfeathers,duck down, orsyntheticbatting (man made soft stuffing). Pillows are usuallyrectangular.Pillows are covered with afabricsheet called a pillowcase. The pillowcase protects the pillow from getting dirty.

The wordpillowcomes from Middle Englishpilwe,from Old Englishpyle(akin to Old High Germanpfuliwi) and from Latinpulvinus.The wordpillowwas 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 ismonkeysresting their heads on their arm.Many animals, includingbirds,use wood and stone nests as pillows.Manydomesticatedanimals have also learned to make use of human-made pillows andcushions.They also rest on members of their own and otherspeciesfor the same reason.

Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt

In ancientMesopotamia,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 Egyptiansused 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.