different between toiletries vs toilet

English

Pronunciation

Noun

toiletries

1. plural of toiletry

English

Alternative forms

• toilette (certain senses only)

Etymology

From Middle French toilette (“small cloth”), diminutive of toile (“cloth”), from their use to protect clothing while shaving or arranging hair. From its use as a private room, toilet came to refer euphemistically to lavatories and then to its fixtures, beginning in the United States in the late 19th century.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?t??.l?t/, /?t??.l?t/
• Rhymes: -??l?t

Noun

toilet (plural toilets)

1. (obsolete) A covering of linen, silk, or tapestry, spread over a dressing table in a chamber or dressing room. [17th–19th c.]
2. (obsolete) The table covered by such a cloth; a dressing table. [17th–19th c.]
   • 1714, Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock, Canto I, lines 121-126:

     And now, unveil’d, the toilet stands display’d,

     Each silver vase in mystic order laid.

3. (now historical or archaic) Personal grooming; the process of washing, dressing and arranging the hair. [from 17th c.]
   • 1791, Elizabeth Inchbald, A Simple Story, Oxford 2009, p. 118:

     Against that short evening her toilet was consulted the whole day […] .

   • 1913, Rabindranath Tagore, (“Come as you are...”), Poetry Foundation 1913, p. 85:

     Come as you are, tarry not over your toilet.

   • 1931, William Faulkner, Sanctuary, Vintage 1993, page 111:

     Three women got down and standing on the curb they made unabashed toilets, smoothing skirts and stockings, brushing one another's back, opening parcels and donning various finery.
4. (now rare, archaic) One's style of dressing: dress, outfit. [from 18th c.]
   • 1917, Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge":

     "It is a quarter-past two," he said. "Your telegram was dispatched about one. But no one can glance at your toilet and attire without seeing that your disturbance dates from the moment of your waking."

5. (archaic) A dressing room. [from 19th c.]
6. (Britain) A room or enclosed area containing a toilet: a bathroom or water closet. [from 19th c.]
   • 2002, Digby Tantam, Psychotherapy and Counselling in Practice: A Narrative Framework, p. 122:

     He would hit her when she cried and, if this did not work, would lock her in the toilet for hours on end.

   • 2014, C.S. Walter, Abandoned Bridges, pp. 105 f.:

     He wet his thumb with saliva pressing on the tongue, ran it up and down faster over the letter 'I' of 'TOILET', the 'LADIES TOILET' was transformed into 'LADIES TO LET' in no time.

7. (New Zealand) A small secondary lavatory having a toilet and sink but no bathtub or shower.
8. (obsolete) A chamber pot.
10. A fixture used for urination and defecation, particularly those with a large bowl and ring-shaped seat which use water to flush the waste material into a septic tank or sewer system. [from 19th c.]

    My toilet backed up. Now the bathroom's flooded.

11. (figuratively) A very shabby or dirty place. [from 20th c.]
    • 1982, The Mosquito Coast:

      Look around you. It's a toilet.

Usage notes

In present use, toilet refers most directly to fixtures for containing or removing human waste. As such, although toilet was originally a euphemism itself, its use to describe the place where the toilets are located (e.g., "Where is the toilet?") is now considered somewhat indiscreet; instead, it is more common to employ other euphemisms such as bathroom, restroom, or WC.

Until the late 19th century, toilet referred solely to personal grooming, including bathing and hair care. This still appears in toiletries and in various set phrases, such as toilet water and toilet bag. This use is sometimes understood as a new borrowing from French, despite being the older sense of the English word. Medical jargon also includes some set phrases such as “pulmonary toilet” and “toilet of the mouth”.

Synonyms

• (room for urination and defecation): See Thesaurus:bathroom
• (NZ, small room for urination and defecation): half bath, half bathroom (US); cloakroom (UK)
• (pot used for urination and defecation): Thesaurus:chamber pot
• (fixture for urination and defecation): See Thesaurus:toilet
• (in a nautical context): See head (item 4.1.4)

Hyponyms

• (fixture for urination and defecation): See Thesaurus:toilet

Derived terms

Descendants

• Japanese: ?????, ???

Translations

Verb

toilet (third-person singular simple present toilets, present participle toileting, simple past and past participle toileted)

1. (dated) To dress and groom oneself.
2. To use the toilet.
3. To assist another (a child, etc.) in using the toilet.

References

Anagrams

• Lottie, litote

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from French toilette (“small cloth”) diminutive of toile (“cloth”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /toal?t/, [t?oa?l?d?] or IPA^(key): /t?il?t/, [t??i?l?d?]

Noun

toilet n (singular definite toilettet, plural indefinite toiletter)

1. toilet (room containing lavatory); men's room, ladies' room
2. toilet (lavatory)

Inflection

Synonyms

• wc

Derived terms

Related terms

• grande toilette
• gøre toilette
• toilette

Further reading

• toilet on the Danish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^da

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French toilette (“small cloth”), from Middle French toilette.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t?a??l?t/
• Hyphenation: toi?let
• Rhymes: -?t

Noun

toilet n (plural toiletten, diminutive toiletje n)

1. toilet (room containing lavatory); men's room, ladies' room

   Synonyms: privaat, wc

2. toilet (lavatory)

   Synonym: wc

3. personal grooming

Derived terms

• toiletbril
• toilethok
• toiletjuffrouw
• toiletpapier
• toilettas

Descendants

• ? Indonesian: toilet

Indonesian

Etymology

From Dutch toilet, from French toilette (“small cloth”) diminutive of toile (“cloth”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?toi?.l?t?/
• Hyphenation: toilèt

Noun

toilèt (first-person possessive toiletku, second-person possessive toiletmu, third-person possessive toiletnya)

1. toilet (personal grooming).
2. toilet, room used for urination and defecation.
3. toilet, fixture used for urination and defecation.

   Synonyms: jamban, kakus, peturasan, tandas, WC

Further reading

• “toilet” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI) Daring, Jakarta: Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa, Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia, 2016.

Tok Pisin

Etymology

From English toilet.

Noun

toilet

1. toilet