Answer: railroad cross tie
In the past, Koreans used to sleep on wooden pillows, believe it or not. The Korean word for wooden pillow is 목침 (木枕). 목(木) means wood or wooden, and 침(枕) means pillow. If you reverse the order of the two Chinese characters in wooden pillow (木枕), you get the word 침목 (枕木), which literally translates as pillow wood but means railroad cross tie. It seems Koreans, or someone, visualized railroad cross ties as wooden pillows for the steel rails that lay on them.
The first two photos show two different kinds of wood pillows, and the third photo shows railroad cross ties.
The first two photos show two different kinds of wood pillows, and the third photo shows railroad cross ties.
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| Wooden Pillow (목침 - 木枕) |
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Wooden Pillow (목침 - 木枕)
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| Railroad Cross Ties (침목 - 枕木) |
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