Restroom

How to spell restroom

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce restroom

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does restroom mean?

1. nounA room with toilet and washing facilities for public use, especially in North American usage.

Restroom in a sentence

• The airport restroom was being cleaned when she arrived at the gate.

• Signs near the lobby pointed customers toward the nearest restroom.

Where does restroom come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Restroom is a transparent compound of the native English words 'rest' and 'room', both of which descend from Old English (Germanic) roots: 'rest' from 'ræst', meaning repose or a pause from labour, and 'room' from 'rum', meaning space or an enclosed chamber. The term arose in early twentieth-century American English as a genteel euphemism, originally describing a lounge or retiring room in a public building where one could rest or freshen up, often furnished with seating and a mirror. Over time the polite name for the adjoining washing and toilet facilities came to stand for the whole space, and 'restroom' settled into its modern meaning of a public lavatory. The squeamish history is exactly why the word says nothing about toilets at all; it literally promises a place to rest. It is now chiefly North American, where 'bathroom' and 'restroom' have largely displaced the older British 'lavatory' and 'toilet' for public facilities.

How the word is built

• rest (repose, ease)
• room (chamber, space)