toilet

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A bowl with a seat, connected to water pipes, used for getting rid of bodily waste.

   The toilet got clogged and the bathroom flooded.

2. 2
   noun

   A room containing such a fixture; a bathroom.

   Sorry I'm late, I was in the toilet.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Toilet entered English in the mid-16th century from French toilette, “cloth” or “wrapper,” a diminutive of toile. It first denoted a cloth used to wrap clothes or cover a dressing table, then developed senses connected with dressing, washing, and attending to one's appearance. It was subsequently applied to a dressing room and, especially in the United States, one with washing facilities; the meaning “lavatory” arose only in the early 20th century.

From Middle French toilette, 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.

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary