commode

See also: Commode

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kəˈməʊd/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊd

Noun

English Wikipedia has an article on:

commode

Wikipedia

commode (plural commodes)

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

   Synonym: washstand

3. A chair containing a chamber pot.
   • 2025 October 26, Olivia Ladanyi, quoting Zach, “This is how we do it: ‘When his grandma heard us having sex, she asked if we’d been “having a fun dance” upstairs’”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN:

     Changing bandages and emptying the commode doesn’t exactly create a sexy environment, but we never talk about doctors’ appointments or heart problems when we’re in our room – we preserve that little bit of space for ourselves.

4. (euphemistic, US, South Asia) 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: (please verify) подвижен умивалник (podvižen umivalnik) 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)

• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France):

  (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
• → Persian: کمد (komod)
• → Russian: комод (komod)
• → Swedish: kommod
• → Turkish: komodin

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, 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