Etymologically
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bath

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 02:20. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /bɑːθ/, US /bæθ/; plural UK /bɑːðz/, US /bæðz/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English bath, inherited from Old English bæð,[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *badan,[2] the source also of German Bad and Old Norse bað.[2][3] It is from Proto-Indo-European *bhē- (“to warm”) with a suffix of action, as in birth and death,[2] so that its original sense was heating, not immersing.[2][5] It is related to bathe and bake.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

About 725 in Barnhart.[3] The immersion of baptism, and a quantity of water for bathing, are from about 885 in the OED,[6] and the act of bathing the body from about 1000.[6]

Semantic evolution

The city of Bath in Somerset, Old English Baðun, was named from its hot springs,[2][5] and gave its name to the bath chair (early 19th century).[5] The Order of the Bath (early 17th century) is named from the ceremonial bath taken before installation.[5] The verb, to wash in a bath, is from 1483 and differs from bathe.[6][7] Bathroom is from 1780,[3] bath salts from 1875,[2] and bathtub from 1870.[3] An early bath for a player sent off was originally American.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – Old English bæþ.[3]
  • c. 1000 – the act of bathing.[6]
  • 1483 – verb.[6]
  • 1780 – bathroom.[3]
  • 1870 – bathtub.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A large container that is filled with water to sit in and wash the body; a bathtub.
  2. The act of washing the body in a bath.
  3. The water in a bath.
  4. (plural) A public building for bathing or swimming.
  5. A liquid in which something is soaked, as in a chemical process.

Verb

  1. (British) To wash someone in a bath, or to have a bath.

Word family

  • bathless

Usage notes

Bath as a verb differs from bathe in referring to washing in a bath.[6][7] Another bath is an ancient Hebrew measure of liquid, about 38 litres, from Hebrew.[8][4]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin