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toilet

The origin and history of toilet.

Etymology

From French "toilette," a diminutive of "toile" ("cloth"), originally the cloth spread over a dressing table; the word later shifted to mean the grooming process itself, then euphemistically to the bathroom fixture, a shift that took hold in the US in the late 1800s.

Origin: French · First attested 1800

Class of 1800

toilet first entered the language around 1800. Other words from the same year:

See the full Class of 1800 →
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Etymology: FreeDict original editorial.