bamboo wife

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. In East Asia and Southeast Asia, a hollow bamboo bolster roughly the size of a human body, embraced by a person while sleeping during hot weather because its open structure exposes the body to cooling air flow.

Word forms

bamboo wife bamboo wives

Etymology

Calque from Chinese 竹夫人 (zhúfūrén).

Synonyms

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