What does doona mean?
A doona is a soft, quilted bed covering filled with down, feathers, or synthetic fibre, laid over the sheets to keep sleepers warm. The word belongs almost entirely to Australian English: where a Briton would say duvet and an American comforter, an Australian reaches for the doona. It entered the language through a brand name — Doona was a trademarked product line introduced in Australia in the early 1970s by a manufacturer drawing on an older word for a padded quilt — and the trademark quickly became genericised, much like 'hoover' for vacuum cleaner. Today the word is completely unremarkable in Australia, appearing everywhere from department stores ('doona covers', 'doona sets') to casual conversation about cold nights. Outside Australia and New Zealand it can puzzle readers, so writers addressing international audiences usually pair it with 'duvet' on first mention.
nounA soft quilted bed covering filled with down, feathers, or synthetic fibre, used as a warm top layer on a bed.
- A thick, soft, quilted bed covering filled with down or synthetic fibre; the standard Australian term for what Britons call a duvet and Americans call a comforter.
"On cold winter nights she pulls the doona right up under her chin."
"The hotel room was freezing, so we asked for an extra doona."
"He stripped the doona cover and tossed everything into the wash."
Regular plural; used when referring to more than one covering, e.g. spare doonas for guests.
"We keep two spare doonas in the linen cupboard for visitors."
Australians sleep under 'doonas' because of a single brand name — the Doona trademark became so popular it turned into everyday language for any warm bed quilt.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of doona
The word traces back through the Hindi and Urdu term 'dunā' (or similar forms), meaning a padded cotton quilt, ultimately borrowed into South Asian usage from earlier Indo-Aryan sources. In the early 1970s the Australian company Tontine adopted 'Doona' as a brand name for its quilted bed covers, choosing the exotic-sounding word to evoke warmth and softness. The trademark proved so successful that it shed its capital letter and became the ordinary Australian word for any such covering, a classic case of a brand name becoming generic. It shares distant ancestry with 'duvet', which came into English via French from words meaning bird 'down'.
How doona is actually used
'Doona' is informal to neutral everyday Australian English; it is not used in British or American English, where 'duvet' and 'comforter' respectively are the normal terms. The word originated as a trade name and is now generic across Australia.
Easily confused with doona
A duvet is the same kind of quilted bed covering, but 'duvet' is the standard British and European term while 'doona' is chiefly Australian.