Stool

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /stuːl/

Definitions

1. A seat without a back or arms, typically supported by three or four legs
2. A type of seat designed to accommodate one person that often lacks a backrest or armrests, which can also refer to waste material excreted by animals or humans and a low platform for standing or working on
3. An upright piece of furniture intended for sitting that usually doesn't have armrests or a back, while also denoting fecal matter produced by an organism and a raised surface used for tasks or as a support

Etymology: The most surprising thing about "stool" is how far its root reaches. Its Proto-Indo-European ancestor, "*steh₂-", meant "to stand", and the earliest sense of the Proto-Germanic form was "chair" rather than a backless seat. The same root shows up in Greek "stéko", "to stand up", and in Latin "sistō", "to set or stop", so a stool is, etymologically, something you stand upon or set something on. In Old English, "stōl" meant "chair, seat", and it could carry the grandeur of a throne. Gothic "stōls" was used for a throne or chair of honour, and the same word appears across the Germanic languages, from Dutch "stoel" and German "Stuhl" to Swedish "stol", all still meaning "chair". English kept the word but narrowed it over the centuries, and the back-rest was gradually lost from the seat it named. The word also reached other Indo-European tongues with a different sense, "table", as in Russian "stol" and Polish "stół", showing how one root could branch into furniture for sitting and furniture for dining.

Synonyms: seat, chair, benchtop, throne

Antonyms: standing, sitting