toilet
/ˈtɔɪlət/
noun
Origin
Latin
tela — cloth, web
Overview
Meaning Now
- A fixture consisting of a bowl for defecation and urination, typically connected to a drainage system.
- The process of washing, dressing, and attending to one's appearance.
- A room containing a toilet fixture; a lavatory or water closet.
Literal older meaning
little cloth
Language path
Latin → Old French → Middle French → English
Earliest form
toilette
Earliest period
16th century
Journey
The word originally referred to the cloth used to cover a dressing table, then to the dressing table itself, and the entire grooming process ('making one's toilet'). Its application to the sanitary fixture is a late 19th-century euphemism for the room (lavatory) where such grooming occurred.
Evolution
- Latin
tela
“woven fabric, web”
- Old French
toile
“cloth”
- Middle French
toilette
“little cloth, wrapper for clothes”
diminutive of toile
- 17th century English
toilet
“a cloth cover for a dressing table”
also referred to the dressing table itself
- 19th century English
toilet
“the act of dressing or grooming”
- 20th century English
toilet
“a fixture for bodily waste”
euphemistic shift from the grooming room to the room containing the fixture
Connections
Word parts
toile
root
cloth
-ette
suffix
diminutive marker
Related across languages
French
toilette
dressing table; grooming; washroom
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Related to toilet
External references use DefinedTerm semantics.