bathroom
English
Alternative forms
- bath room, bath-room
Etymology
From bath + room. Compare Dutch badkamer (“bathroom”), German Badezimmer (“bathroom”), Swedish badrum (“bathroom”), Faroese baðrúm (“bathroom”).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈbɑːθ.ɹuːm/
Audio (UK) (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /ˈbæθˌɹum/, /ˈbæθɹʊm/
Audio (US) (file) - (UK, US) IPA(key): /ˈbæθ.ɹuːm/
- Rhymes: -uːm
Noun
bathroom (plural bathrooms)
- 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
- 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
- I wash in the bathroom.
Audio (US) (file)
- I wash in the bathroom.
- (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
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
- bathroom bag
- bathroom bill
- bathroom break
- bathroomette
- bathroomful
- bathroomgoer
- bathroomish
- bathroomless
- bathroomlike
- bathroom scales
- bathroom singer
- bathroom tissue
- bathroomware
- bathroomy
- do you need to use the bathroom
- full bathroom
- go to the bathroom
- half bathroom
- multibathroom
- quarter bathroom
- split bathroom
- three-quarter bathroom
- use the bathroom
Descendants
- → Urdu: باتھ روم (bāth-rūm)
- → Hindi: बाथरूम (bāthrūm)
Translations
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Verb
bathroom (third-person singular simple present bathrooms, present participle bathrooming, simple past and past participle bathroomed)
- (medicine, transitive) To assist a patient with using the toilet and general personal hygiene.