stool

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English stol, also stool,^[2][3] inherited from Old English stōl (“seat for one person; throne”),^{[4][5][6][7][8]} inherited from Proto-Germanic *stōlaz.^[9][10][11] It is cognate with Old Frisian stōl, Old Saxon stōl, Dutch stoel, Old High German stuol, German Stuhl, Old Norse stóll and Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐍉𐌻𐍃 (stōls, “chair; throne”).^{[5][8][12][6]} Most dictionaries derive it from the root of stand, Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand”), with a noun suffix in -l-;^{[9][12][5][8][4][11]} Ayto compares the formation of saddle from a base meaning "sit", and thinks the sense passed from "stand" to "sit" through "be placed".^[9] Kroonen also mentions a possible origin from the root meaning "to sit", and doubts the comparison that Etymonline, Barnhart and the OED make with a Slavic word for throne and with Lithuanian stālas (“table”).^{[12][4][6][5]}

Earliest recorded meaning

Any seat for one person, especially a throne or a chair of office: before 899, in King Alfred's translation of Gregory's Pastoral Care.^[5][6] The Old English compound cynestol meant a royal seat or throne.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In early Middle English the word was still used of bishops' seats and sees and of judges' benches.^[4] Its decline began when chair was borrowed from French; after the 14th century stool was left to small seats without arms or a back,^[4][13] a sense recorded from 1390,^[5] while the old sense "throne" lasted until 1819.^[5][8] Gower already has the proverb of falling between two stools (about 1390): "Betwen tuo stoles lyth the fal".^[5][13][14] In the 15th century the word was applied to a seat enclosing a chamber pot, and so to a privy (1410 in Barnhart),^{[9][6][4][14]} which led to "an evacuation of the bowels" (1533)^[6][4] and then "faeces".^[9][14] The Groom of the Stool was a high officer of the royal household.^[14] Hoad dates the sense "base, support" to the 14th century,^[7] and a stool is also the base of a plant from which shoots grow.^[15][16] In the 19th century it was also a decoy bird fastened to a perch, chiefly in American use,^[7][15] and the stool pigeon (1836) gave the slang stool for an informer, recorded from 1859.^[6][17] In West Africa stool translates the throne of a chief, and so his office (1819).^[5][8][15]

Timeline

• before 899 – a seat for one person; a throne, in Alfred's Pastoral Care.^[5][6]
• before 1250 – a footstool, a low bench.^[5]
• 1390 – a seat without arms or a back;^[5] between two stools, in Gower.^[5]
• 1410 – a privy, a close-stool.^[6]
• 1533 – an evacuation of the bowels.^[6]
• 1540 – verb, to evacuate the bowels.^[5]
• 1770 – verb, of a plant, to send up shoots.^[5]
• 1819 – the throne of a West African chief.^[5]
• 1836 – stool pigeon, a decoy pigeon.^[6]
• 1842 – verb, US, to lure wildfowl with a decoy.^[5]
• 1859 – slang, an informer.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. A seat without a back or arms, resting on three or four legs or a single pedestal: She pulled up a stool at the counter.^[15][3][8]
2. A low bench for resting the feet, stepping or kneeling; a footstool.^[3][8][5]
3. A piece of faeces; an evacuation of the bowels.^[15][8][3]
4. The base or rootstock of a plant, usually woody, from which shoots grow; also the cluster of shoots growing from it.^[15][3]
5. (chiefly US) A decoy used in hunting.^[15][7]
6. (West Africa) A chief's throne, and so his office.^[15][8][5]
7. fall between two stools: to fail through hesitating between two courses of action.^[15][8][5]
8. (obsolete, Old English–1819) A seat of authority; a throne.^[5][8]
9. (obsolete) A seat enclosing a chamber pot; a commode or privy.^[8][7]

Verb

1. Of a plant, to send up shoots from the base.^[3][5][8]
2. (archaic) To empty the bowels.^[3][5][8]
3. Of wildfowl, to come to a decoy; also, to lure them with one.^[3][5]
4. (slang) To act as an informer.^[3][5][17]
5. (West Africa) To enthrone a chief.^[5][8]

Word family

• stoollike
• birthstool
• campstool
• closestool
• stepstool
• stooly
• toadstool
• destool

Related words

• stand
• stall
• stool pigeon
• stoolie
• footstool
• chair

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
10. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
12. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
13. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ a b c d e f g h i Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
16. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
17. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com