mattress

English

Mattress on a box spring.

Etymology

Etymology tree

Arabic طَرَحَ (ṭaraḥa)

Arabic مَطْرَح (maṭraḥ)bor.

Old French matrasbor.

Middle English materas

English mattress

From Middle English materas, from Old French matras, from Arabic مَطْرَح (maṭraḥ, “place where something is thrown”), from طَرَحَ (ṭaraḥa, “to throw”). Compare divan, from Persian via Turkish (both of Middle Eastern origin, due to the local custom of lying on padding on floor being foreign to Europeans).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmætɹɪs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ætɹɪs

Noun

mattress (plural mattresses)

2. A pad on which a person can recline and sleep, usually having an inner section of coiled springs covered with foam or other cushioning material then enclosed with cloth fabric.
3. A form of retaining wall used to support foundations or an embankment
4. A form of lagging, in particular for boilers.
   • 1941 April, “British Locomotive Developments”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 173:

     Spun glass mattresses are used for lagging the boiler, which has three Ross pop safety valves on the front ring.

   • 1951 March, “British Railways Standard "Britannia" Class 4-6-2 Locomotives”, in Railway Magazine, page 185:

     The boiler and firebox are lagged with a lightweight Fibreglass mattress.

Derived terms

• air mattress
• crib mattress
• down mattress
• go to the mattresses
• mattress actress
• mattress cover
• mattress fluffer
• mattress itch
• mattresslike
• mattress pad
• mattress protector
• mattress topper
• mattressy
• overmattress
• spring mattress
• walking mattress
• wire mattress

Translations

a pad on which a person can recline and sleep

• Albanian: dyshek (sq) m
• Apache:

  Jicarilla: gołjóon

• Arabic: فِرَاش m (firāš), مَرْتَبَة f (martaba)

  Algerian Arabic: مَطْرَح m (meṭraḥ)

  Egyptian Arabic: مرتبة f (martaba)

  Gulf Arabic: دوشق m (dawšag)

  South Levantine Arabic: فرشة f (farše)

• Armenian: ներքնակ (hy) (nerkʻnak), դոշակ (hy) (došak)
• Asturian: colchón (ast) m, xergón m
• Azerbaijani: döşək (az), matras
• Bajau:

  West Coast Bajau: kasur

• Basque: lastaira, koltxoi
• Belarusian: матра́с m (matrás), матра́ц m (matrác)
• Bengali: তোশক (bn) (tōśok)
• Bhojpuri: गद्दा (gaddā)
• Bulgarian: матра́к m (matrák), дюше́к m (djušék)
• Burmese: မွေ့ရာ (my) (mwe.ra)
• Catalan: matalàs (ca) m
• Cebuano: kutson
• Chavacano: colchon
• Cherokee: ᎠᏤᏍᏙ (atsesdo)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 床褥 (cong⁴ juk^6-2)

  Mandarin: 床墊 / 床垫 (zh) (chuángdiàn)

• Comorian:

  Ngazidja Comorian: goɗoro class 5/6

• Crimean Tatar: töşek
• Czech: matrace (cs) f
• Danish: madras (da) c
• Dutch: matras (nl) m
• Esperanto: matraco
• Estonian: madrats (et)
• Faroese: madrassa f
• Finnish: patja (fi)
• French: matelas (fr) m
• Galician: colchón m, xergón (gl) m, almadraque m
• Georgian: ლეიბი (ka) (leibi), მატრასი (maṭrasi)
• German: Matratze (de) f
• Greek: στρώμα (el) n (stróma)

  Ancient Greek: στρῶμα n (strôma), στρωμνή f (strōmnḗ)

• Guianese Creole: matla
• Gujarati: ગાદલું n (gādlũ)
• Haitian Creole: matla
• Hebrew: מִזְרָן (he) m (mizrán)
• Hiligaynon: koltson
• Hindi: गद्दा m (gaddā), गादी (hi) f (gādī), गद्दी f (gaddī), तोशक (hi) f (tośak)
• Hmong:

  White Hmong: please add this translation if you can

• Hungarian: matrac (hu), ágybetét (hu)
• Hunsrik: Matratz f
• Icelandic: dýna (is) f
• Indonesian: kasur (id), tilam (id), matras (id)
• Interlingua: matras
• Italian: materasso (it) m
• Japanese: 布団 (ja) (ふとん, futon), マットレス (ja) (mattoresu)
• Kabuverdianu: koltxon
• Kannada: ಮೆತ್ತೆ (kn) (mette)
• Karachay-Balkar: тёшек (töşek)
• Kazakh: матрас (matras)
• Khmer: ពូក (km) (puuk)
• Korean: 매트리스 (ko) (maeteuriseu), 요 (ko) (yo) (Korean style, on the floor), 침대깔개 (chimdaekkalgae) (North Korea)
• Kumyk: тёшек (töşek)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: دۆشەگ (doşeg), دۆشەک (doşek)

  Northern Kurdish: doşek (ku) f, mitêl (ku) f, binrax (ku) f

• Kyrgyz: матрас (matras)
• Lao: ຟູກ (fūk), ເບາະ (lo) (bǫ)
• Latin: culcita f, (Medieval) materācium n
• Latvian: matracis m
• Lithuanian: čiužinys m, matracas m
• Lun Bawang: tilem
• Macedonian: душек m (dušek)
• Malay: tilam (ms)

  Brunei Malay: tilam

• Maltese: mitraħ m
• Manchu: ᠰᡳᠰᡥᡝ (sishe)
• Māori: whāriki moenga, takapau
• Marathi: गादी f (gādī)
• Marshallese: būton̄
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: гудас (mn) (gudas)

• Naga:

  Khiamniungan Naga: tháthúam

• Nepali: गद्दा (ne) (gaddā)
• Nogai: тоьсек (tösek)
• Norman: matenas m (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: madrass (no) m

  Nynorsk: madrass m

• Oromo: firaashii
• Pashto: توشکه (ps) f (tošaka)
• Persian:

  Dari: توشَک (fa) (tōšak)

  Iranian Persian: تُشَک (fa) (tošak), دوشَک (fa) (dušak), بَرْخوابِه (fa) (barxâbe)

• Plautdietsch: Madrauz f
• Polish: materac (pl) m
• Portuguese: colchão (pt) m
• Réunion Creole French: matla
• Romanian: saltea (ro) f
• Russian: матра́с (ru) m (matrás), матра́ц (ru) m (matrác)
• Sami:

  Kildin Sami: пе̄ренҍ (pier’en’)

• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ду̀шек m, ма̀драц m

  Latin: dùšek (sh) m, màdrac (sh) m

• Sicilian: matarazzu (scn) m, matrazzu m
• Slovak: matrac m
• Slovene: vzmetnica f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: matraca f

  Upper Sorbian: matraca f

• Spanish: colchón (es) m
• Swahili: godoro (sw), mto (sw)
• Swedish: madrass (sv) c
• Tagalog: kutson
• Tajik: тӯшак (tüšak), бистар (tg) (bistar), матрас (matras)
• Tamil: மெத்தை (ta) (mettai)
• Taos: pį̏ęʼéna
• Telugu: పరుపు (te) (parupu), మెత్త (te) (metta)
• Thai: ฟูก (th) (fûuk), เบาะ (th) (bɔ̀)
• Tibetan: ཉལ་གདན (nyal gdan)
• Tofa: төъһек
• Turkish: döşek (tr), yatak (tr), şilte (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: دوشك (döşek), شلته (şilte)

• Ukrainian: матра́ц m (matrác)
• Ulithian: fotoong
• Unami: ànansun
• Urdu: توشَک f (tośak), گَدَّا m (gaddā)
• Urum: тӧшек (töşäk)
• Uyghur: تەشتەك (teshtek), ماتراس (matras)
• Uzbek: toʻshak (uz), matras (uz)
• Vietnamese: nệm (vi)
• Volapük: matrad (vo)
• Welsh: matras f, matrasau m pl
• Yiddish: מאַטראַץ m (matrats)
• Zhuang: please add this translation if you can

engineering: a flat structure of brushwood or similar material used to provide a foundation for a structure including embankments

• Dutch: zinkstuk (nl) n

See also

• bottom sheet
• futon

Verb

mattress (third-person singular simple present mattresses, present participle mattressing, simple past and past participle mattressed)

1. (transitive) To cover with a thick layer, like a mattress; to blanket.
   • 1997, Andrew R. M. Patterson, A planet through a field of stars, page 123:

     A comfortable litter of pine needles had mattressed the ground and spreading branches had been a canopy overhead.

Anagrams

• smart set, smartest, smatters