Other forms: cushions, cushioned, cushioning
A cushion is a soft square thing on a sofa that makes sitting nicer. Plump the cushions, a velvet cushion, sit on a cushion.
As a verb it means to soften a blow, literally or otherwise — cushion the impact, cushion the loss. In billiards the cushion is the padded rail. The Latin behind it is coxa, the hip, which is what a cushion was first made for.
1nouncushionA soft pad for sitting or leaning on.
“She sat on the floor with a cushion behind her back.”
2verbsoftenTo soften a blow or a loss.
“His savings helped to cushion the blow when he lost his job.”
cushion is a pad.
Old French coissin comes from Latin coxa, the hip — a pad for sitting on.
Proto-Indo-European
*koḱs- — joint, limb
Latin
coxa — hip, thigh
Vulgar Latin
*coxīnus — seat pad
Old French
coissin
Middle English
quysshyn
English, today
cushion
Built from
From Middle English quysshyn, from later Old French coissin (modern coussin), from Vulgar Latin coxīnus (“seat pad”), derived from Latin coxa (“hip, thigh”) (with the suffix possibly after pulvīnus (“pillow”)), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European koḱs- (“joint, limb”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA