The AI-powered English dictionary
plural futons or futon
A thin mattress of tufted cotton or similar material, placed on a floor or on a raised, foldable frame as a bed. quotations examples
The Japanese bed is the floor, with a wooden box under the neck for a pillow and a futon for a covering. To the foreigner the Japanese landlord allows five or six futons, or cotton-wadded comforters, and they make a tolerable mattress, although not springy, and rather apt to be damp and musty.
1891, Eliza Scidmore, Jinrikisha Days in Japan, page 145
The futon are easily aired, and may be carried about readily when moving.
1904, Clarence Ludlow Brownell, The Heart of Japan: Glimpses of Life and Nature Far from the Travellers’ Track in the Land of the Rising Sun, London: Methuen & Co., […], page 54
Normally one or two futon are laid on tatami, several inches of straw matting recessed into the floor, providing a firm but extremely comfortable night’s rest.
1981, The East, page 66
Some futon (cotton-filled comforters and mattresses) were piled in one corner and few clothing belonging to father hung on some nails on the wall.
2015, Heidi Kim, editor, Taken from the Paradise Isle: The Hoshida Family Story, University Press of Colorado
A round cushion used for Zen meditation, traditionally made of woven bulrush leaves. examples
A specific kind of sofa-bed, with a fixed cushion that forms a mattress when folded down and a sofa when folded up. quotations examples
I was 18 years old, sleeping on a futon, cooking on a George Foreman grill and showering at a friend's house every few days.
2011 November 18, Ryan Allis, “From Dumpster Diving to Running a $50 Million Company”, in Time