Jakes

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /d͡ʒeɪks/

Definitions

1. A term referring to an outhouse or toilet, typically used in a rural or old-fashioned context
2. it can also denote a disreputable or unkempt place
3. the word may refer to a bad situation or a state of disarray in certain dialects

Etymology: The word "jakes" is a euphemism for the privy, and its name is a personal name pressed into service. Middle English had "Jake" as a variant of "Jack," and "Jakke" as a variant of both "Jacques" and "Jack," and these familiar forms of a common given name became a jocular label for the lavatory. The earliest recorded spelling of the word is "jacques," which shows the name was the starting point before the spelling settled into the form we use now. The same pattern appears elsewhere in English. American slang offers "Cousin John" and "Quincy" as euphemistic personifications, so a person was imagined to be "visiting" when they had gone to the toilet. Naming a bodily function after a friendly figure softened a topic that polite company preferred not to name directly, and "jakes" kept that cheerful, indirect tone for centuries. Over time the word also drifted from the lavatory itself to a disreputable or unkempt place more generally, so a squalid room or building could be called a jakes as well.

Synonyms: toilets, bathrooms