toilet

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English[edit]

The Toilet of Venus (La Toilette de Vénus), by François Boucher
Western flush toilet
East Asian squat flush toilet
Ancient Roman pit toilets
An outdoor pit toilet (outhouse) at Siple Dome Field Camp, Antarctica.
Portable toilets in Georgia.

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle French toilette (“small cloth”), diminutive of toile (“cloth”), from their use to protect clothing while shaving or arranging hair. From its use as a private room, toilet came to refer euphemistically to lavatories and then to its fixtures, beginning in the United States in the late 19th century.[1]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈtɔɪ.lət/, /ˈtɔɪ.lɪt/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Audio (UK)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɔɪlɪt

Noun[edit]

toilet (plural toilets)

  1. (obsolete) A covering of linen, silk, or tapestry, spread over a dressing table in a chamber or dressing room. [17th–19th c.]
  2. (obsolete) The table covered by such a cloth; a dressing table. [17th–19th c.]
    • 1714, Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock, Canto I, lines 121-126:
      And now, unveil’d, the toilet stands display’d,
      Each silver vase in mystic order laid.
  3. (now historical or archaic) Personal grooming; the process of washing, dressing and arranging the hair. [from 17th c.]
    • 1791, Elizabeth Inchbald, A Simple Story, Oxford 2009, p. 118:
      Against that short evening her toilet was consulted the whole day […] .
    • 1913, Rabindranath Tagore, (“Come as you are...”), Poetry Foundation 1913, p. 85:
      Come as you are, tarry not over your toilet.
    • 1931, William Faulkner, Sanctuary, Vintage 1993, page 111:
      Three women got down and standing on the curb they made unabashed toilets, smoothing skirts and stockings, brushing one another's back, opening parcels and donning various finery.
    • 1952, Norman Lewis, Golden Earth, Chapter 8:
      Here, at night, a lonely but brilliantly neon-illuminated figure, I performed my toilet, watched incuriously by the Burmese seated at the tables of the tea-shops below.
  4. (now rare, archaic) One's style of dressing: dress, outfit. [from 18th c.]
  5. (archaic) A dressing room. [from 19th c.]
  6. (UK) A room or enclosed area containing a toilet: a bathroom or water closet. [from 19th c.]
    Sorry, I was in the toilet.
    • 2002, Digby Tantam, Psychotherapy and Counselling in Practice: A Narrative Framework, p. 122:
      He would hit her when she cried and, if this did not work, would lock her in the toilet for hours on end.
    • 2014, C.S. Walter, Abandoned Bridges, pp. 105 f.:
      He wet his thumb with saliva pressing on the tongue, ran it up and down faster over the letter 'I' of 'TOILET', the 'LADIES TOILET' was transformed into 'LADIES TO LET' in no time.
  7. (New Zealand) A small secondary lavatory having a toilet and sink but no bathtub or shower.
  8. (obsolete) A chamber pot.
  10. A fixture used for urination and defecation, particularly one with a large bowl and ring-shaped seat which uses water to flush the waste material into a septic tank or sewer system. [from 19th c.]
    My toilet backed up. Now the bathroom's flooded.
  11. (figuratively) A very shabby or dirty place. [from 20th c.]
    • 1982, The Mosquito Coast:
      Look around you. It's a toilet.
    • 1991, Stephen King, Needful Things:
      Mr. Gaunt was urbane and smiling again, not a hair out of place. "Do you like this little town? Do you love it? […] "
      […]
      "I hate this fucking toilet," he said to Leland Gaunt.

Usage notes[edit]

In present use, toilet refers most directly to fixtures for containing or removing human waste. As such, although toilet was originally a euphemism itself, its use to describe the place where the toilets are located (e.g., "Where is the toilet?") is now considered somewhat indiscreet; instead, it is more common to employ other euphemisms such as bathroom, restroom, or WC.

Until the late 19th century, toilet referred solely to personal grooming, including bathing and hair care. This still appears in toiletries and in various set phrases, such as toilet water and toilet bag. This use is sometimes understood as a new borrowing from French, despite being the older sense of the English word. Medical jargon also includes some set phrases such as “pulmonary toilet” and “toilet of the mouth”.

Synonyms[edit]

Hyponyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

  • → Japanese: トイレット, トイレ

Translations[edit]

room used for urination and defecation — See also translations at bathroom,‎ men's room,‎ ladies' room,‎ outhouse,‎ portable toilet,‎ latrine,‎ shitter
fixture used for urination and defecation — See also translations at flush toilet,‎ squat toilet,‎ chemical toilet,‎ urinal,‎ latrine
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb[edit]

toilet (third-person singular simple present toilets, present participle toileting, simple past and past participle toileted)

  1. (dated) To dress and groom oneself.
  2. To use the toilet.
  3. To assist another (a child, etc.) in using the toilet.

References[edit]

  1. ^ "toilet, n." in the Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd ed. (2014), Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Further reading[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Danish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from French toilette (“small cloth”) diminutive of toile (“cloth”).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /toalɛt/, [tˢoaˈlɛd̥] or IPA(key): /tɔilɛt/, [tˢʌiˈlɛd̥]

Noun[edit]

toilet n (singular definite toilettet, plural indefinite toiletter)

  1. toilet (room containing lavatory); men's room, ladies' room
  2. toilet (lavatory)

Inflection[edit]

Declension of toilet
neuter
gender 		Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative toilet toilettet toiletter toiletterne
genitive toilets toilettets toiletters toiletternes

Synonyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Dutch[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from French toilette (“small cloth”), from Middle French toilette.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /tʋaːˈlɛt/
  • Audio(file)
  • Hyphenation: toi‧let
  • Rhymes: -ɛt

Noun[edit]

toilet n (plural toiletten, diminutive toiletje n)

  1. toilet (room containing lavatory); men's room, ladies' room
    Synonyms: privaat, wc
  2. toilet (lavatory)
    Synonym: wc
  3. personal grooming

Derived terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

Indonesian[edit]

Indonesian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia id

Etymology[edit]

From Dutch toilet, from French toilette (“small cloth”) diminutive of toile (“cloth”).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈtoi̯.lɛt̚/
  • Hyphenation: toilèt

Noun[edit]

toilèt (first-person possessive toiletku, second-person possessive toiletmu, third-person possessive toiletnya)

  1. toilet (personal grooming).
  2. toilet, room used for urination and defecation.
  3. toilet, fixture used for urination and defecation.
    Synonyms: jamban, kakus, peturasan, tandas, WC

Further reading[edit]

Tok Pisin[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From English toilet.

Noun[edit]

toilet

  1. toilet
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