commode

See also: Commode

English

Etymology

Rococo commode, from circa 1760

Neoclassical commode, from circa 1780

Borrowed from French commode (literally “convenient”). Doublet of comodo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kəˈməʊd/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊd

Noun

commode (plural commodes)

1. A low chest of drawers on short legs.
2. A stand for a washbowl and jug.

   Synonym: washstand

3. (historical, euphemistic) A chair containing a chamber pot.
4. (euphemistic, US) A toilet.
5. (historical) A kind of woman's headdress, raising the hair and fore part of the cap to a great height.
   • 1693, [Thomas] d’Urfey, The Richmond Heiress: Or, A Woman Once in the Right. A Comedy, […], London: […] Samuel Briscoe, […], →OCLC, Act II, scene i, page 14:

     Then at the Play-Houſe ye ogle the Boxes, and dop and bovv to thoſe you do not knovv, as vvell as thoſe you do. […] You nuzzle your Noſes into their Hoods and Commodes, […]

   • 1696, George Granville, The She-Gallants:

     Now under high Commodes with Looks Erect,
     Bare-fac’d devours in gawdy Colours deck.

Synonyms

• (chamber pot): See Thesaurus:chamber pot
• (toilet): See Thesaurus:toilet

Related terms

• accommodation
• commodious
• discommode, incommode

Translations

low chest of drawers

• Bulgarian: скрин (bg) (skrin)
• Esperanto: komodo
• Finnish: senkki (fi), matala lipasto
• French: commode (fr) f
• German: Kommode (de) f
• Italian: canterano m, angoliera f, cantoniera f
• Macedonian: комода f (komoda)
• Russian: комо́д (ru) m (komód)
• Spanish: cómoda (es) f
• Swedish: kommod (sv)

stand for a washbowl and jug

• Bulgarian: подвижен умивалник
• Finnish: pesuvatiteline
• Italian: porta bacinella m, porta catino m

euphemistic: toilet

• Bengali: কমোড (komōḍ)
• Bulgarian: тоалетна (bg) (toaletna)
• Esperanto: klozeto, (euphemistic) necesejo
• Finnish: pönttö (fi)
• French: selle (fr) f
• Italian: gabinetto (it) m, cesso (it) m

See also

• air commode (unrelated etymology)
• bidet

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin commodus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ.mɔd/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: com‧mode

Adjective

commode (plural commodes)

1. convenient

   Synonym: pratique

2. expedient

   Synonym: expédient

Derived terms

• accommoder
• incommode
  • incommoder

Descendants

• → German: kommod

Noun

commode f (plural commodes)

1. chest of drawers, commode, dresser
2. (Louisiana) toilet

   Synonym: toilette

Descendants

• → Danish: kommode
• → German: Kommode
• → English: commode
• → Icelandic: kommóða
• → Italian: comodino
• → Norman: commode
• → Norwegian: kommode
• → Russian: комод (komod)
• → Swedish: kommod
• → Persian: کمد (komod)

Further reading

• “commode”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Interlingua

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkom.mo.de/

Adjective

commode

1. comfortable

Latin

Etymology 1

Adverb

commodē (comparative commodius, superlative commodissimē)

1. conveniently
2. aptly, suitably

Etymology 2

Adjective

commode

1. vocative masculine singular of commodus

References

• “commode”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “commode”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• commode in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) to indulge in apt witticisms: facete et commode dicere
    
  • (ambiguous) a short, pointed witticism: breviter et commode dictum
    

Norman

Etymology

Borrowed from French commode.

Noun

commode f (plural commodes)

1. (Jersey) tallboy