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I have a few concerns about sleeping words. Could You please help me?

  1. Is there such a word like: "cover bed"?
  2. Or the one appropriate word is: duvet?
  3. What is the difference between duvet and quilt?
  4. How children say pillow at the age of 2, 3? Is there any childish word for pillow?
  5. How to say to a child who goes to sleep, to take the duvet and cover ..?

How should this be said? :)

Thank You

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  • There is bedcover but not "cover bed". A quilt must be quilted, a duvet needn't be. There are also blankets, which children call blankies or binkies when they carry them around for comfort, as with the famous Linus of the Peanuts comic strip. There is no common juvenile word for pillow that I'm aware of. As for (5), what two items are you asking the child to carry? Where is he carrying them from?
    – Dan Bron
    Apr 24, 2015 at 11:55
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    See also this article: "Blanket, Coverlet, Duvet, Quilt, Comforter: What's the Difference?".
    – Dan Bron
    Apr 24, 2015 at 12:07
  • @DanBron So, Can we say bedcover is something like bedspread? Quilt I understood is something like bedcover but with a decorative pattern? OK, and duvet is something like: soft bag with synthetic filler, often quilted which often is put inside a cover? Which word should i use to describe: duvet inside a cotton cover? (Just like most of us probably have ...). The last question was how to say to a child who goes to his bed to sleep, that should take a duvet and "place over his body"?
    – John
    Apr 24, 2015 at 12:19
  • To cover all your bases, just call the thermal-insulator plus thermal-insulator-cover the bedspread. That's what I do anyway. You usually say to a child "Now get under the covers!".
    – Dan Bron
    Apr 24, 2015 at 12:25
  • The terms are often used interchangeably, and passed through families. So what's called a "comforter" in one family is apt to be a "duvet" in another (and my wife's family uses a Norwegian term I can't think of just now).
    – Hot Licks
    Apr 24, 2015 at 12:26

1 Answer 1

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There are bedspreads, - which are tailored coverings that are usually removed before using the bed. There are quilts, comforters, and blankets, - which are snuggled under. A duvet is a slip-cover for a down (feather) comforter, so the feathers don't poke you.

The child's term for "blanket" is often "blankie", but, a "binkie", is a pacifier. No common child's term for "pillow." (US)

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  • Technically, the thing that protects you from pokey feathers is the duvet cover, and the bag filled with pokey feathers is the duvet proper. But in common parlance the whole assembly (bag + cover) is referred to as the duvet, as that's the form it's usually seen and used in.
    – Dan Bron
    Apr 24, 2015 at 12:20
  • Hmm isn't the duvet alternative for comforter which both can be put inside a cover?
    – John
    Apr 24, 2015 at 12:22
  • @DanBron - Didn't know that - I guess "duvet" - for the cover itself - is just a common mistake around here. I've heard "duvet cover" - but only rarely. Feel free to edit my response,
    – Oldbag
    Apr 24, 2015 at 12:29
  • @Oldbag I used to think the same thing. In fact I once went to a nightclub on 21st called Duvet, and I thought "That's dumb, naming your club after a thin, decorative facade instead of the thing of substance" (why Duvet, I hear you ask? The club had big fluffy beds as part of its decor).
    – Dan Bron
    Apr 24, 2015 at 12:32
  • This is essentially correct, although a seamstress will quibble about the particulars. Blanket is probably the most recognizable English word for any generic bed covering, however many will reserve special words for any type of blanket which is thicker or "fluffier". Dan Brown's comment to the original question containing the website is probably an excellent source for more than the OP could ever want to know about this subject!
    – Cord
    Apr 24, 2015 at 12:57

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