zabutonnoun
Factsheet
What does the noun zabuton mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zabuton. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
How common is the noun zabuton?
| 1890 | 0.004 |
| 1900 | 0.004 |
| 1910 | 0.0034 |
| 1920 | 0.0034 |
| 1930 | 0.0038 |
| 1940 | 0.004 |
| 1950 | 0.0038 |
| 1960 | 0.0039 |
| 1970 | 0.0042 |
| 1980 | 0.005 |
| 1990 | 0.0052 |
| 2000 | 0.0052 |
| 2010 | 0.0055 |
How is the noun zabuton pronounced?
British English
U.S. English
Where does the noun zabuton come from?
Earliest known use
1870s
The earliest known use of the noun zabuton is in the 1870s.
OED's earliest evidence for zabuton is from 1879, in Japan Mail.
zabuton is a borrowing from Japanese.
Etymons: Japanese zabuton.
Nearby entries
- 911, n.1968–
- 999, n.1937–
- Z, n.Old English–
- 'Z, adj.
- za, n.1968–
- zaatar, n.1917–
- zabaglione, n.1899–
- zabernism, n.1916–21
- zabernize, v.1914
- zabra, n.1523–
- zabuton, n.1879–
- zac, n.1898–
- 'zackly | 'zactly, adv.1886–
- zad, n.1669–
- Zadokite, n. & adj.1910–
- zadruga, n.1887–
- zaffre | zaffer, n.1662–
- zaftig, adj.1921–
- zafu, n.1965–
- zag, n., adv., & v.1793–
- zagaie | zagaye, n.1590–1698
Etymology
Summary
Notes
Meaning & use
- 1879–In Japan: a flat floor cushion for sitting or kneeling on.
- 1879
Five rin or half a sen for the use of a ‘zabuton’ a small cushion to sit on.
Japan Mail 10 April 195/1 - 1973
She brought a zabuton and sat on the floor on that.
A. Broinowski, Take One Ambassador xii. 193 - 2015
We sat, no zafu, no zabuton, sat smack in our center and zoned.
J. Cohen, Book of Numbers 368
society inhabiting and dwelling inhabited place a building furniture and fittings support or rest [nouns] cushion floor cushion- boss1694–1841A seat consisting of or resembling a bundle of straw; a hassock.
- floor cushion1839–A large cushion placed on the floor for use as seating.
- puff1877= pouf, n. 3. Obsolete. rare.
- zabuton1879–In Japan: a flat floor cushion for sitting or kneeling on.
- pouf1884–Frequently in form pouffe. A cushioned ottoman or low seat with no back. Now usually: a low stuffed or padded seat, footstool, or cushion with a…
- beanbag1969–A large bag loosely filled with small pellets of polystyrene or similar material, used as a seat or floor cushion which moulds itself to the shape…
- Sagbag1974–The proprietary name of an informal chair consisting of a large bag filled with polystyrene granules which accommodates itself to the form of the…
Pronunciation
British English
U.S. English
Consonants
- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- ɬrhingyll
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing
Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence
Vowels
- iːfleece
- ihappy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- atrap, bath
- ɑːstart, palm, bath
- ɒlot
- ɔːthought, force
- ʌstrut
- ʊfoot
- uːgoose
- əletter
- əːnurse
- ɪənear
- ɛːsquare
- ʊəcure
- eɪface
- ʌɪpride
- aʊmouth
- əʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ãgratin
- ɒ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)
Other symbols
- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.
View the pronunciation model here.
Consonants
- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye*
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing
* /d/ also represents a 'tapped' /t/ as in
Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence
Vowels
- ifleece, happy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- ætrap, bath
- ɑlot, palm, cloth, thought
- ɑrstart
- ɔcloth, thought
- ɔrnorth, force
- ʊfoot
- ugoose
- əstrut, comma
- ərnurse, letter
- ɪ(ə)rnear
- ɛ(ə)rsquare
- ʊ(ə)rcure
- eɪface
- aɪpride
- aʊmouth
- oʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ɑ̃gratin
- æ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)
Other symbols
- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.
View the pronunciation model here.
Simple text respell breaks words into syllables, separated by a hyphen. The syllable which carries the primary stress is written in capital letters. This key covers both British and U.S. English Simple Text Respell.
Consonants
b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w and z have their standard English values
- gguy
- jjay
- yyore
- chchore
- khloch
- shshore
- ththaw
- dhthee
- zhbeige
Vowels
- atrap
- ahpalm
- airsquare
- arstart
- arrcarry (British only)
- awthought
- ayface
- a(ng)gratin
- edress
- eefleece
- eerdeer
- errmerry
- ikit
- ighpride
- irrmirror
- olot (British only)
- ohgoat
- oogoose
- oorcure
- orforce
- orrsorry (British only)
- owmouth
- oyvoice
- o(ng)salon
- ustrut
- uhletter
- urnurse
- urrhurry
- uufoot
Notes
Forms
Inflections
Variant forms
- 1800s–zabuton
- 1900s–sabuton (rare)
Frequency
zabuton typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zabuton is in frequency band 2, which contains words occurring between 0.001 and 0.01 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands
Frequency of zabuton, n., 1890–2010
* Occurrences per million words in written English
Historical frequency series are derived from Google Books Ngrams (version 2), a data set based on the Google Books corpus of several million books printed in English between 1500 and 2010.
The overall frequency for a given word is calculated by summing frequencies for the main form of the word, any plural or inflected forms, and any major spelling variations.
For sets of homographs (distinct entries that share the same word-form, e.g. mole, n.¹, mole, n.², mole, n.³, etc.), we have estimated the frequency of each homograph entry as a fraction of the total Ngrams frequency for the word-form. This may result in inaccuracies.
Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the Google Books corpus.
| Decade | Frequency per million words |
|---|---|
| 1890 | 0.004 |
| 1900 | 0.004 |
| 1910 | 0.0034 |
| 1920 | 0.0034 |
| 1930 | 0.0038 |
| 1940 | 0.004 |
| 1950 | 0.0038 |
| 1960 | 0.0039 |
| 1970 | 0.0042 |
| 1980 | 0.005 |
| 1990 | 0.0052 |
| 2000 | 0.0052 |
| 2010 | 0.0055 |
Compounds & derived words
- 1920–General use as a modifier, as in zabuton cushion, zabuton pillow, etc.
- 1920
The actor then made a sign to an understudy to bring in a chair for him, when Mr. Bowie with his stout person neatly sat down on a zabuton cushion!
Japan Magazine December 396/2 - 1956
There are also three-way control electric heating pads and electric ‘zabuton’ pillows.
Pacific Stars & Stripes (Tokyo) 6 February 7/3 - 2005
They were usually photographed grinning broadly and sitting on zabuton mats with their legs collapsed neatly underneath them.
L. Y. Nakano, Community Volunteers in Japan vii. 136