Etymologically
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restroom

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 20:59. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • US: /ˈɹɛstˌɹum/[1]

Etymology

It is a compound from English rest + room.[2][3][4] It is also written “rest room” and “rest-room”.[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A room, usually in a public building or workplace, set aside for rest and relaxation: before 1856, in a piece by S. Brown printed in the North British Review in 1857.[2] Etymonline dates this sense to 1887.[3]

Semantic evolution

Such rest rooms often had, or were required to have, toilet rooms next to them, and by the 1930s the word had become a euphemism for a lavatory.[3] Merriam-Webster dates the toilet sense to 1899.[4] It is now chiefly American; the original sense is rare.[2][4] In American regional speech it was also used of an indoor toilet in a house, or of an outhouse, and the Dictionary of American Regional English recorded it in the 1950s and 1960s in most areas except the Northeast, most often in the South Midland.[5] In railroad slang it was a name for the caboose.[6]

Timeline

  • before 1856 – a room for rest and relaxation.[2]
  • 1887 – Etymonline's first date for a room set aside for rest.[3]
  • 1899 – a room with public toilets.[4]
  • 1930s – established as a euphemism for a lavatory.[3]
  • 1950 – an indoor toilet in a house, in a Wisconsin survey.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (US) A room or set of rooms in a public place with toilets and washbasins; a public lavatory: She asked the usher where the restroom was.[4][7][2]
  2. (rare) A room in a workplace or public building set aside for rest.[2][1]
  3. (US, regional) An indoor toilet in a house, or an outhouse.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c Cassidy, Frederic G. & Joan Houston Hall (eds.) (1985–2002), Dictionary of American Regional English, vols I–IV, Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
  6. ^ Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin