Restrooms

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Enclosed areas provided for personal sanitation needs, usually featuring toilets and handwashing facilities
2. Designated spaces within buildings for users to attend to bodily functions, commonly including toilets and sinks
3. Rooms set aside in public or private buildings where people can use toilets and wash their hands

Etymology: "Restrooms" is the plural of "restroom", a compound of "rest" and "room" that first meant a room where people could take a break. Its original sense was a breakroom, a place to pause from work, and the euphemistic sense of a room for toilets came later, as the "rest" in the name was stretched to cover a more discreet purpose. The plural form simply reflects that many such rooms exist in a building, one for each sex or several in a large venue, and English speakers have used the singular and plural interchangeably in this sense. Because the compound is built from two plain English words, there is no foreign root to trace behind it; the story lies in how the everyday meaning of "rest" and "room" combined and then narrowed.

Synonyms: bathrooms, toilets, lavatories, washrooms