lavatory

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English lavatorie,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Late Latin lavātōrium (“place for washing”),^{[5][6][7][8][9][3]} the noun use of the neuter of lavātōrius (“of washing”),^[5][3] from lavāt-, the past participial stem of Latin lavō (“to wash”).^[5][10] The OED calls the Latin noun post-classical and dates it from the 11th century as a place for washing, from the 13th as a vessel of water for washing, and as a piscina since 1417.^[10] The American Heritage Dictionary derives it through lavātor (“launderer”).^[6] The Latin verb is traced to Proto-Indo-European *leue- (“to wash”),^[5][6] Ayto's *lou-, which also gave lather.^[11] The OED compares lavatoire (“place of washing; wash house”), recorded from the 15th to the mid-17th century.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A bowl or other vessel for washing the hands or body: before 1382, in the Wycliffite Bible.^[10][9] Etymonline dates "washbasin" to the late 14th century.^[5] The American Heritage Dictionary gives the Middle English sense as a piscina,^[6] which the OED records for a church basin from 1412.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The word first named a thing or place for washing, in general and in church use.^[11][12] It was used of the ritual washing of a celebrant's hands from 1445,^[10] and of spiritual cleansing from 1447 in Bokenham.^[10] From about 1475 it also meant a lotion or wash,^[10][7] the sense in which Johnson (1755) defined it, quoting Harvey on washing "the temples, hands, wrists, and jugulars".^[13] A place with facilities for washing is recorded from 1594 in the OED, which has revised the date,^[10] against 1656, in Blount, in Barnhart.^[9][5] For a time it could also mean a laundry (1661) or a place where gold is washed from gravel (1712).^[10]

The modern sense grew from the washroom.^[11][12] Barnhart finds lavatory as a euphemism for a toilet in 1845,^[9] Etymonline by 1864,^[5] and the OED has a room with a toilet as well as washing facilities from 1874 and the fixture itself from 1903.^[10] Ayto and the Oxford Dictionary of English date the change to the 19th century.^[11][12] The Shorter Oxford notes the compound lavatory humour, crude humour about such places.^[7]

Timeline

• before 1382 – a vessel for washing the hands or body.^[10][9]
• 1412 – a church basin used for ritual washing.^[10]
• 1445 – the ritual washing of a celebrant's hands.^[10]
• 1447 – figurative, a means of spiritual cleansing.^[10]
• c. 1475 – a lotion, a wash (obsolete by 1797).^[10]
• 1594 – a room with facilities for washing oneself.^[10] Barnhart's first record is from 1656.^[9]
• 1620 – adjective, of washing.^[10]
• 1661 – a laundry (obsolete by 1878).^[10]
• 1712 – a place where gold is washed from soil (obsolete by 1920).^[10]
• 1845 – euphemism for a room with a toilet.^[9] The OED's first record is from 1874.^[10]
• 1903 – a fixed receptacle for urinating and defecating.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A room with toilet and washing facilities.^[6][14][10]
2. A flush toilet.^[6][14][10]
3. A fixed basin with running water for washing the hands and face.^[6][2][10]
4. In a church, a piscina, or a basin used for the ritual washing during the Eucharist.^[2][10][7]
5. The washing place of a monastery or convent.^[14][10]
6. The ritual washing of a celebrant's hands at the Eucharist, the lavabo.^[2][10][7]
7. (obsolete, 1475–1797) A lotion or wash.^[10][7][13]
8. (obsolete, 1661–1878) A laundry.^[10][7]

Adjective

1. Of or relating to washing.^[10][2][7]

Word family

• lav
• lavatorial

Related words

• lave
• laver
• lavabo
• latrine
• laundry
• lather
• lotion
• ablution
• deluge
• lavish

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
12. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins