Foldstool

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small seat with folding legs that can be collapsed flat for easy carrying or storage
2. A portable chair with a hinged frame that folds compactly when not in use
3. A lightweight stool designed to fold shut for convenient transport and space-saving storage

Etymology: The most surprising thing about "foldstool" is that it is not really a compound of "fold" and "stool" at all, despite how it looks. The word came into English from Medieval Latin "faldistōlium," which in turn was borrowed from a Proto-West Germanic form, "*faldistōl." The resemblance to "fold" and "stool" is a coincidence of appearance that English speakers later reinforced by treating the word as if it were built from those two English parts. The Latin term described a folding seat, a chair that could be collapsed for transport. Such seats were associated with high-ranking church officials, and the same root gave rise to several related words that took different routes into the language. "Faldistory" and "faldstool" are close relatives, and "fauteuil," the French word for an armchair, is a further doublet from the same ancestor. Each reached English or French by a different path, so the family looks more varied than a single word would suggest.