bathroom

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See also: bath room

English[edit]

A bathroom with primitive toilet in the UK's Beamish Museum.
A public bathroom (restroom) in the United States.

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From bath +‎ room. Compare Dutch badkamer (bathroom), German Badezimmer (bathroom), Swedish badrum (bathroom), Faroese baðrúm (bathroom).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

bathroom (plural bathrooms)

  1. A room containing a shower and/or bathtub, and (typically but not necessarily) a toilet.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:bathroom
    Hyponyms: see Thesaurus:bathroom
    Hypernym: room
  2. (chiefly US, South Africa, Canada, Philippines, euphemistic) A lavatory (area where one washes or bathes): a room containing a toilet and (typically but not necessarily) a bathtub.
    Most Americans don't know 'WC' and many Brits mock 'bathroom' but almost everyone understands 'toilet' or 'lavatory'.

Usage notes[edit]

From the beginning of the 20th century, bathroom has been the generic word for a room with toilet facilities in American English,[1] whereas Britons have continued to say lavatory relatively more frequently, and often loo or WC for a room with a toilet but no bath.

In some contexts, bathroom refers more particularly to the toilet facilities of a private residence, distinguished from public buildings' restrooms (US), washrooms (Canada), men's rooms, ladies' rooms, etc.

Derived terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

  • Urdu: باتھروم (bāthrūm)
  • Hindi: बाथरूम (bāthrūm)

Translations[edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb[edit]

bathroom (third-person singular simple present bathrooms, present participle bathrooming, simple past and past participle bathroomed)

  1. (medicine, transitive) To assist a patient with using the toilet and general personal hygiene.

References[edit]