futon
/ˈfuːtɒn/US/ˈfutɑn/
futon noun: a thin mattress of tufted cotton or similar material, placed on a floor or on a raised, foldable frame as a bed.
.jpg){kind=link}
Noun (1)
futon (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.
- 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
- A round cushion used for Zen meditation, traditionally made of woven bulrush leaves.
- A specific kind of sofa-bed, with a fixed cushion that forms a mattress when folded down and a sofa when folded up.
- 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, archived from the original on 30 Nov 2022
Noun (2) capitalized: FUTON
FUTON (uncountable)
futon meaning in Marathi and Arabic
futon in Marathi
- thin mattress placed on a floor or on a raised, foldable frame
- फुतोन phuton
futon in Arabic
- thin mattress placed on a floor or on a raised, foldable frame
- فُوتُون futūn, فُوتُون يَابَانِيّ fūtūn yābāniyy
- a Japanese cushion for meditation
- فُوتُون futūn, فُوتُون يَابَانِيّ fūtūn yābāniyy
Examples of futon in a sentence
- 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, →ISBN:
Forms of futon
| plural | futons |
|---|---|
| plural | futon |
Origin of futon
Borrowed from Japanese 布団 (futon), in turn from Middle Chinese 蒲團 (MC bu dwan, “meditation cushion”) (compare Mandarin 蒲团 (pútuán)), from 蒲 (bu, “bulrush, cattail”) + 團 (dwan, “sphere, round object”) from the way the original cushion was round and made from woven bulrushes.
Words formed from futon
Words that rhyme with futon
Questions about futon
- What does futon mean?
- Futon means a thin mattress of tufted cotton or similar material, placed on a floor or on a raised, foldable frame as a bed.
- What is futon in Marathi?
- Futon in Marathi is फुतोन (phuton). See Futon meaning in Marathi.
- How do you use futon in a sentence?
- 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.
- What part of speech is futon?
- Futon is a noun.
- How do you pronounce futon?
- Futon is pronounced /ˈfuːtɒn/ (UK).
- What is the plural of futon?
- The plural of futon is futons.
Words near futon in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: futon (page history and authors); FUTON (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-futon.wav.
Cite this entry: “futon.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/futon. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.