Other forms: comforters
A comforter is a cloth or toy a child needs in order to settle. A favourite comforter, lose the comforter, clutching a comforter.
Psychologists call these transitional objects, and the attachment is a normal and useful step towards managing without a parent nearby — which is why taking one away rarely helps. In American English a comforter is a thick quilt. The word also means one who comforts. Note that a dummy is a different thing entirely.
1nouncomforterA cloth or toy a child needs in order to settle.
“The toddler wouldn't go to sleep without his comforter, a worn old blanket.”
2nounthickA thick quilt, in American use.
“On cold nights, she snuggled under a thick down comforter.”
comforter is a soothing object.
Old French conforter comes from Latin confortare, to strengthen, from fortis, strong. Fort, effort and force come from the same strength.
Proto-Indo-European
*bʰerǵʰ-
Old French
conforter
Anglo-Norman
confortour
Middle English
comfortour
English, today
comforter
From Middle English comfortour et al, from Anglo-Norman confortour, from Old French conforter. See comfort.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Babies & Growing Up