bathroom
Pluralbathrooms
Verbbathrooms, bathrooming, bathroomed
Pluralbathrooms
Formsbathrooms, bathrooming, bathroomed
- 1A room containing a toilet and usually a sink, whether or not it has a bathtub or shower, including a public restroom.
He excused himself and slipped off to the bathroom during the meeting.
The bathroom at the gas station was locked, so we drove on to the next exit.
UsageGo to the bathroom and use the bathroom usually mean use the toilet. With an international audience, toilet is the safer word.
Similartoilet, restroom, lavatory, washroom
Note
A euphemism that names the bath when the toilet is meant, so people ask for the bathroom in a restaurant or an office where nobody bathes. It is used chiefly in the US, Canada, South Africa, Australia and the Philippines, while British speakers more often say toilet or loo.
- 2A room containing a shower or bathtub, and often though not always a toilet.
We're remodeling the bathroom with a walk-in shower next month.
The apartment has two bedrooms and a single bathroom with a deep bathtub.
Note
Here the bathtub or shower is what makes a room a bathroom, and the toilet is optional. When the toilet becomes the point and the bath the optional extra, the word has shifted to the polite "toilet" meaning.
- 3To help a patient use the toilet and manage their general personal hygiene.
Staff must bathroom each resident according to their individual care plan.
She was trained to bathroom patients who cannot stand on their own.
UsageTakes the person cared for as object: bathroom a patient. In everyday talk, help someone to the toilet is more usual.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
A compound of "bath" and "room." Both parts go back to Old English (bæþ and rūm) through Middle English, and the same combination appears in related languages, such as Dutch badkamer, German Badezimmer, and Swedish badrum.
Checked 7 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Bathroom is a compound of bath and room. en.wiktionary.org
- Bath descends through Middle English from Old English bæþ. en.wiktionary.org
- Room descends through Middle English from Old English rūm. en.wiktionary.org
- Comparable compounds occur in Dutch, German, and Swedish as badkamer, Badezimmer, and badrum. en.wiktionary.org