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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(buo, “bulrush, cattail”) + 團(duɑn, “sphere, round object”) from the way the original cushion was round and made from woven bulrushes.
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.
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:
The futon are easily aired, and may be carried about readily when moving.
1981, The East, page 66:
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.
“futon”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-02
futon: a Japanese-style mattress or duvet; a thin mattress of tufted cotton or similar material, placed on a floor or on a raised, foldable frame as a bed.