zabuton, n.

zabuton
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zabuton_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2021

# zabutonnoun

## Earlier version

- zabuton in OED Second Edition (1989)

## 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?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

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

/ˈzabʊtɒn/
ZAB-uu-ton

#### U.S. English

/ˈzæbʊˌtɑn/
ZAB-uu-tahn
/ˈzɑbʊˌtɑn/
ZAH-buut-ahn

### 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

1. 911, n. 1968–
2. 999, n. 1937–
3. Z, n. Old English–
4. 'Z, adj.
5. za, n. 1968–
6. zaatar, n. 1917–
7. zabaglione, n. 1899–
8. zabernism, n. 1916–21
9. zabernize, v. 1914
10. zabra, n. 1523–
11. zabuton, n.1879–
12. zac, n. 1898–
13. 'zackly | 'zactly, adv. 1886–
14. zad, n. 1669–
15. Zadokite, n. & adj. 1910–
16. zadruga, n. 1887–
17. zaffre | zaffer, n. 1662–
18. zaftig, adj. 1921–
19. zafu, n. 1965–
20. zag, n., adv., & v. 1793–
21. zagaie | zagaye, n. 1590–1698

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Japanese.
Etymon: Japanese zabuton.
< Japanese zabuton (mid 19th cent.) < za seat (see zafu n.) + ‑buton, combining form of futon round mat or cushion (see futon n.), perhaps after zafu kind of small floor cushion to sit on (see zafu n.).

Compare…
< Japanese zabuton (mid 19th cent.) < za seat (see zafu n.) + ‑buton, combining form of futon round mat or cushion (see futon n.), perhaps after zafu kind of small floor cushion to sit on (see zafu n.).

Compare earlier futon n.

### Notes

New English Dictionary (OED first edition) (1921) gives the pronunciation as (zabu·tǫn) /zaˈbuton/ (murraygloss) .

## Meaning & use

1. 1879–
   In Japan: a flat floor cushion for sitting or kneeling on.
   1. 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
   2. 1973

      > She brought a zabuton and sat on the floor on that.

      A. Broinowski, Take One Ambassador xii. 193
   3. 2015

      > We sat, no zafu, no zabuton, sat smack in our center and zoned.

      J. Cohen, Book of Numbers 368
   1. boss 1694–1841
      A seat consisting of or resembling a bundle of straw; a hassock.
   2. floor cushion 1839–
      A large cushion placed on the floor for use as seating.
   3. puff 1877
      = pouf, n. 3. Obsolete. rare.
   4. zabuton 1879–
      In Japan: a flat floor cushion for sitting or kneeling on.
   5. pouf 1884–
      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…
   6. beanbag 1969–
      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…
   7. Sagbag 1974–
      The proprietary name of an informal chair consisting of a large bag filled with polystyrene granules which accommodates itself to the form of the…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzabʊtɒn/
ZAB-uu-ton

### U.S. English

/ˈzæbʊˌtɑn/
ZAB-uu-tahn
/ˈzɑbʊˌtɑn/
ZAH-buut-ahn

####

##### 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 /ˈpɛtl/ but /ˈpɛtl̩i/.

##### 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 /ˈpɛd(ə)l/ but /ˈpɛdl̩i/.

##### 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

New English Dictionary (OED first edition) (1921) gives the pronunciation as (zabu·tǫn) /zaˈbuton/ (murraygloss) .

## Forms

### Inflections

Plural: zabutons, unchanged

### Variant forms

1. 1800s–
   zabuton
2. 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 data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### 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

1. 1920–
   General use as a modifier, as in zabuton cushion, zabuton pillow, etc.
   1. 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
   2. 1956

      > There are also three-way control electric heating pads and electric ‘zabuton’ pillows.

      Pacific Stars & Stripes (Tokyo) 6 February 7/3
   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

zabuton, n. was revised in December 2021.

zabuton, n. was last modified in December 2024.