Toilet
Encyclopedia
A toilet is a sanitation
Sanitation
Sanitation is the hygienic means of promoting health through prevention of human contact with the hazards of wastes. Hazards can be either physical, microbiological, biological or chemical agents of disease. Wastes that can cause health problems are human and animal feces, solid wastes, domestic...

 fixture used primarily for the disposal of human excrement, often found in a small room referred to as a toilet/bathroom/lavatory
Toilet (room)
A modern toilet is a room within a private dwelling, office of other building containing a toilet and often also a sink...

. Flush toilet
Flush toilet
A flush toilet is a toilet that disposes of human waste by using water to flush it through a drainpipe to another location. Flushing mechanisms are found more often on western toilets , but many squat toilets also are made for automated flushing...

s, which are common in many parts of the world, may be connected to a nearby septic tank
Septic tank
A septic tank is a key component of the septic system, a small-scale sewage treatment system common in areas with no connection to main sewage pipes provided by local governments or private corporations...

 or more commonly in urban areas via a sewerage
Sewerage
Sewerage refers to the infrastructure that conveys sewage. It encompasses receiving drains, manholes, pumping stations, storm overflows, screening chambers, etc. of the sanitary sewer...

 system to a more distant sewage treatment plant
Sewage treatment
Sewage treatment, or domestic wastewater treatment, is the process of removing contaminants from wastewater and household sewage, both runoff and domestic. It includes physical, chemical, and biological processes to remove physical, chemical and biological contaminants...

; chemical toilet
Chemical toilet
A chemical toilet is a toilet which uses chemicals to deodorize the waste instead of simply storing it in a hole, or piping it away to a sewage treatment plant. Common types include aircraft lavatory, some passenger train toilets and the portable toilets used on construction sites and at large...

s are used in mobile and many temporary situations where there is no access to sewerage, dry toilets, including pit toilet
Pit toilet
A pit toilet is a dry toilet system which collects human excrement in a large container and range from a simple slit trench to more elaborate systems with ventilation. They are more often used in rural and wilderness areas as well as in much of the developing world...

s and composting toilet
Composting toilet
A composting toilet is a dry toilet that using a predominantly aerobic processing system that treats excreta, typically with no water or small volumes of flush water, via composting or managed aerobic decomposition...

 require no or little water with excreta being removed manually or composted in situ. The word toilet may also be used, especially in British English
British English
British English, or English , is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere...

 to describe the room containing the fixture for which euphemisms such as restroom or bathroom are used in American English
American English
American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....

. Prior to the introduction of modern flush toilets, most human waste disposal took place outdoors in outhouse
Outhouse
An outhouse is a small structure separate from a main building which often contained a simple toilet and may possibly also be used for housing animals and storage.- Terminology :...

s or latrines. Pail closet
Pail closet
A pail closet was a room used for the disposal of human excreta, under the pail system of waste removal. The closet was a small outdoor privy which contained a seat, underneath which a portable receptacle was placed. This pail, into which the user would defecate, was removed and emptied by the...

s were introduced in England and France in an attempt to reduce disease in rapidly expanding cities.

Ancient civilisations used toilets attached to simple flowing water sewage systems included those of the Indus Valley Civilization
Indus Valley Civilization
The Indus Valley Civilization was a Bronze Age civilization that was located in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, consisting of what is now mainly modern-day Pakistan and northwest India...

, e.g., Harappa
Harappa
Harappa is an archaeological site in Punjab, northeast Pakistan, about west of Sahiwal. The site takes its name from a modern village located near the former course of the Ravi River. The current village of Harappa is from the ancient site. Although modern Harappa has a train station left from...

 and Mohenjo-daro
Mohenjo-daro
Mohenjo-daro is an archeological site situated in what is now the province of Sindh, Pakistan. Built around 2600 BC, it was one of the largest settlements of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization, and one of the world's earliest major urban settlements, existing at the same time as the...

 which are located in present day India and Pakistan and also the Romans
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 and Egyptians
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...

. Although a precursor to the modern flush toilet system was designed in 1596 by John Harington, such systems did not come into widespread use until the late nineteenth century. Thomas Crapper
Thomas Crapper
Thomas Crapper was a plumber who founded Thomas Crapper & Co. in London. Contrary to widespread misconceptions, Crapper did not invent the flush toilet. He did, however, do much to increase the popularity of the toilet, and developed some important related inventions, such as the ballcock...

 was one of the early maker of toilets in England.

Diseases, including cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...

 which affects some 3 million people each year, can be largely prevented when effective sanitation prevents fecal matter contaminating waterways, groundwater
Groundwater
Groundwater is water located beneath the ground surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated deposit is called an aquifer when it can yield a usable quantity of water. The depth at which soil pore spaces or fractures and voids in rock...

 and drinking water
Drinking water
Drinking water or potable water is water pure enough to be consumed or used with low risk of immediate or long term harm. In most developed countries, the water supplied to households, commerce and industry is all of drinking water standard, even though only a very small proportion is actually...

 supplies. There have been five main cholera outbreaks and pandemics
Cholera outbreaks and pandemics
It is estimated that cholera affects 3-5 million people worldwide, and causes 100,000-130,000 deaths a year as of 2010. This occurs mainly in the developing world. In the early 1980s, death rates are believed to have been greater than 3 million a year...

 since 1825, during one of which 10,000 people died in London alone. The physician John Snow
John Snow (physician)
John Snow was an English physician and a leader in the adoption of anaesthesia and medical hygiene. He is considered to be one of the fathers of epidemiology, because of his work in tracing the source of a cholera outbreak in Soho, England, in 1854.-Early life and education:Snow was born 15 March...

 proved that deaths were being caused by people drinking water from a source that had been contaminated by a nearby cesspit
Cesspit
A cesspit, or cesspool is a pit, conservancy tank, or covered cistern, which can be used to dispose of urine and feces, and more generally of all sewage and refuse. It is a more antiquated solution than a sewer system. Traditionally, it was a deep cylindrical chamber dug into the earth, having...

; the London sewer system of the time had not reached crowded Soho and many houses had cellars (basements) with overflowing cesspools underneath their floorboards.

According to The Global Water Supply and Sanitation Assessment 2000 by the World Health Organization
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...

, 40% of the global population does not have access to 'excreta disposal facilities', mostly in Asia and Africa. There are efforts being made to design simple effective squat toilets for these people. Usually, they are made by digging a hole, then installing a premade plastic squat toilet seat atop this hole, covering the walls with canvas.

Flush Toilets

A typical flush toilet is a vitreous
Glass transition
The liquid-glass transition is the reversible transition in amorphous materials from a hard and relatively brittle state into a molten or rubber-like state. An amorphous solid that exhibits a glass transition is called a glass...

 ceramic bowl containing water plus special plumbing
Plumbing
Plumbing is the system of pipes and drains installed in a building for the distribution of potable drinking water and the removal of waterborne wastes, and the skilled trade of working with pipes, tubing and plumbing fixtures in such systems. A plumber is someone who installs or repairs piping...

 made to be rapidly filled with more water. The back of the toilet bowl is connected to a hollow drain pipe shaped like a upside down U connecting the drain from the bowl to a hollow siphon
Siphon
The word siphon is sometimes used to refer to a wide variety of devices that involve the flow of liquids through tubes. But in the English language today, the word siphon usually refers to a tube in an inverted U shape which causes a liquid to flow uphill, above the surface of the reservoir,...

 tube longer than the water in the bowl is high. The siphon tube connects to the drain. The bottom of the upside down U shaped drain pipe limits the height of the water in the bowl before it flows down the drain. If water is poured slowly into the toilet bowl it simply flows down the drain--the toilet does not flush. The water in the bowl both acts as a barrier to sewer gas entering and as a receptacle for waste. Sewer gas is vented though a vent pipe attached to the sewer line. At the top of the toilet bowl is a rim built into the toilet with many slanted drain holes connected to the toilet tank to fill, rinse and induce swirling in the toilet bowl when it is flushed. Mounted above the toilet is a large holding tank with about (now) 1.6 gallon to 1.2 gallon of water. This tank is built with a large drain 2 inches (5.1 cm) to 3 inches (7.6 cm) diameter hole at its bottom covered by a flapper valve that allows the water to rapidly leave the tank. The toilet's plumbing
Plumbing
Plumbing is the system of pipes and drains installed in a building for the distribution of potable drinking water and the removal of waterborne wastes, and the skilled trade of working with pipes, tubing and plumbing fixtures in such systems. A plumber is someone who installs or repairs piping...

 is built to allow entry of the toilet tank’s water into the toilet in a very short period of time. This water enters through the holes in the rim and a siphon jet hole about 1 inches (2.5 cm) diameter in the bottom of the toilet. Other toilets use a large hole in the front of the rim to allow rapid filling of the toilet bowl. When a user flushes a toilet he/she opens the flapper valve and allows the tank's water to quickly enter the toilet bowl. This rapid influx of water into the toilet bowl of the tank water causes the swirling water in the bowl to rapidly rise and fill the upside down U shaped drain and the siphon tube mounted in the back of the toilet. This starts the toilet's siphon
Siphon
The word siphon is sometimes used to refer to a wide variety of devices that involve the flow of liquids through tubes. But in the English language today, the word siphon usually refers to a tube in an inverted U shape which causes a liquid to flow uphill, above the surface of the reservoir,...

 action. Siphons work by the molecular attraction that keeps the liquid's molecules bound to each other such that a falling continuous column of liquid falling below the height of a liquid will "pull" the liquid up and over a rim. This siphon action rapidly (5-7 seconds) “pulls” nearly all of the water and waste in the bowl and the on-rushing tank water down the drain—it flushes. When most of the liquid has been pulled down the drain the continuous column of water up and over the bottom of the upside down U shaped drain pipe is broken when air gets into the siphon tube and the toilet gives its characteristic gurgle as the siphon action ceases. After flushing, the flapper valve in the water tank closes the bottom of the tank and various water lines and valves connected to a input water supply refill the toilet tank and bowl. The toilet is again ready for use. A two piece movable seat and toilet bowl lid is typically mounted on the back of the toilet bowl to allow covering the toilet or sitting (or not) while using the toilet.

A toilet's body is essentially a work of fired pottery
Pottery
Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...

 made from vitreous china, which starts out as a thin clay mixture called a slurry
Slurry
A slurry is, in general, a thick suspension of solids in a liquid.-Examples of slurries:Examples of slurries include:* Lahars* A mixture of water and cement to form concrete* A mixture of water, gelling agent, and oxidizers used as an explosive...

 slip. The clay mixture is delivered or made in the factory as a liquid. It is thinned, filtered to remove any leftover impurities, and re-thickened. It takes about 20 kilograms (44.1 lb) of slurry per toilet.

This liquid slurry is poured into the space between Plaster of Paris (gypsum) molds. Toilet bowl, toilet rim, toilet tank and toilet tank lid all require separate pairs or more molds. The filled molds sit for about an hour while the Plaster of Paris molds absorb moisture from the slurry slip making it semisolid next to the mold but staying liquid further from the mold. Then, the workers remove plugs that allows any excess slip to pour from the mold--this excess slurry is recycled for later use. This drained out slip leaves voids inside the fixture using less material, keeping it both lighter and easier to fire in a kiln
Kiln
A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, or oven, in which a controlled temperature regime is produced. Uses include the hardening, burning or drying of materials...

 and allows the formation of intricate waste lines in the fixture--the drain's centers are poured out as liquid slurry slip. At this point the toilets parts look like and are about as strong as milk chocolate. After about one hour the top core mold (interior of toilet) is removed. The rim mold bottom, which includes a place to mount the holding tank is removed and has the appropriate slanted holes for the rinsing jets cut and the mounting holes for tank and seat punched into the rim piece. Large flapper valve holes for rapid water entry into the toilet are cut into the rim pieces. The exposed top of the bowl is then covered with a thick clay slurry called butter slurry and the still uncured rim is attached. The bowl and hollow rim are now a single piece. The bowl plus rim is then inverted and the toilet set on the top of the top rim mold and the rest of the molds are removed. As the clay dries further it hardens more and continues to shrink. After a few hours the casting is semisolid and self supporting, and is called greenware
Pottery
Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...

. After the molds are removed workers use hand tools and sponges to smooth the edges and surface of the greenware and remove evidence of mold joints. For large scale production pieces these steps may be automated. The parts are then left outside or put in a warm dry room to dry before going through a dryer set at about 200°F, (93°C), for about 20-36 hours.

After finishing the surfaces the bowls and tanks are sprayed or painted with glaze
Ceramic glaze
Glaze is a layer or coating of a vitreous substance which has been fired to fuse to a ceramic object to color, decorate, strengthen or waterproof it.-Use:...

 of various kinds to get different colors. The glaze is designed to shrink and contract at the same rate as the greenware while undergoing firing. The toilet bowls, tanks and lids are placed on a conveyor belt or "car" that slowly goes through a large kiln
Kiln
A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, or oven, in which a controlled temperature regime is produced. Uses include the hardening, burning or drying of materials...

. The belt slowly moves the greenware plus glaze into the kiln, which has different temperature zones starting at about 400°F (200°C) at the front of the kiln increasing in the middle to over 2,200°F (1,200°C) degrees and exiting the kiln at about 200°F (90°C). Vitreous china with glaze is an exception to normal pottery and glazing materials in that both the clay and glaze are made to be fired together. During the firing in the kiln the greenware and glaze are vitrified
Glass transition
The liquid-glass transition is the reversible transition in amorphous materials from a hard and relatively brittle state into a molten or rubber-like state. An amorphous solid that exhibits a glass transition is called a glass...

 (turns to a form of glass) as one finished unit. The finished toilet is now glass like, stronger, germ resistant, waterproof and stain proof through its entire thickness. The trip through the kiln takes around 23-40 hours.

When the pieces are removed from the kiln and fully cool, they are ready for inspection for cracks. After inspection, the flushing mechanism may be installed on a one piece toilet. On a two piece toilet with a separate tank the flushing mechanism may only be put on the tank with final assembly waiting installation. The seat too may be installed at this time, or the parts may be sold separately and assembled by a plumbing distributor.

Various forms of flush toilets have become widely used in modern times The amount of water used by modern toilets is a significant portion of personal water usage, totaling as much as about 90 liters of water per capita per day. Modern low flush toilet
Low flush toilet
A low flush or low flow toilet is a flush toilet that uses significantly less water than a full flush toilet. Most low flush toilets use 6 liters, or 1.6 gallons per flush as opposed to the usual 13.2 liters, or about 3.5 gallons. They came into use in the United States in the 1990s, citing water...

 designs allow the use of much less water per flush--1.6 gallon to (1.2 gallongallons per flush--but may require the sewage treatment
Sewage treatment
Sewage treatment, or domestic wastewater treatment, is the process of removing contaminants from wastewater and household sewage, both runoff and domestic. It includes physical, chemical, and biological processes to remove physical, chemical and biological contaminants...

 system be modified for the more concentrated waste. Dual flush toilet
Dual flush toilet
A dual-flush toilet is a variation of the flush toilet that uses two buttons or handles to flush different levels of water. It was invented by Australian inventor Bruce Thompson in 1980 while working for Caroma, and although the first generation dual-flush toilet caught on, a redesign in 1993 cut...

 allow the use to select between a flush for urine or feces saving a significant amount of water over conventional units. You push the flush handle up for one kind of flush and down for the other. In some places users are encouraged not to flush after urination. Flush toilets, if plumbed for it, may also use greywater
Greywater
Greywater is wastewater generated from domestic activities such as laundry, dishwashing, and bathing, which can be recycled on-site for uses such as landscape irrigation and constructed wetlands...

 (water previously used for washing dishes, laundry and bathing) for flushing rather than potable water (drinking water). Some modern toilets pressurize the water in the tank which initiates flushing action with less water usage. Heads (on ships)
Head (watercraft)
The head is a ship's toilet. The name derives from sailing ships in which the toilet area for the regular sailors was placed at the head or bow of the ship.-Design:In sailing ships the toilet was placed in the bow for two reasons...

 are typically flushed with seawater.

Dry Toilets

Dry toilets, which use very limited or no water for flushing include the pit toilet
Pit toilet
A pit toilet is a dry toilet system which collects human excrement in a large container and range from a simple slit trench to more elaborate systems with ventilation. They are more often used in rural and wilderness areas as well as in much of the developing world...

 (a simple hole in the ground, or one with ventilation, fly guards and other improvements) and composting toilet
Composting toilet
A composting toilet is a dry toilet that using a predominantly aerobic processing system that treats excreta, typically with no water or small volumes of flush water, via composting or managed aerobic decomposition...

 (which mix excrement with carbon rich materials for faster decomposition), incinerating toilet
Incinerating toilet
An incinerating toilet is a toilet that burns excrement instead of flushing it away with water.-Description:Incinerating toilet may be powered by electric, gas or other energy sources....

 (which burn the excrement), the Tree bog
Tree bog
A tree bog is a form of outside toilet which has willows, nettles and other nutrient-hungry plants planted around it. The fæces are held in a chamber open to the air which allows it to decompose rapidly, feeding the trees around it. Unlike a conventional compost toilet, a tree bog should never need...

 (a simple system for converting excrement as direct fertiliser for trees. The pig toilet
Pig toilet
A pig toilet is a simple type of toilet consisting of an outhouse mounted over a pig sty with a chute or hole connecting the two. The pigs consume the faeces of the users of the toilet....

 from the Indian state of Goa
Goa
Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...

 which consist of an outhouse
Outhouse
An outhouse is a small structure separate from a main building which often contained a simple toilet and may possibly also be used for housing animals and storage.- Terminology :...

 linked to a pig enclosure by a chute is still in use to a limited extent but the subsequent use of the pigs for food carries a significant risk for human health. The unsanitary 'flying toilet
Flying toilet
A flying toilet is a facetious name for the use of plastic bags for defecation, which are then thrown into ditches, on the roadside, or simply as far away as possible....

' used in African slums where plastic shopping bag
Plastic shopping bag
Plastic shopping bags, carrier bags or plastic grocery bags are a type of shopping bag made from various kinds of plastic, and are common worldwide. These bags are sometimes called single-use bags, referring to carrying items from a store to a home...

s are first used as as a container for excrement and are then thrown as far away as possible." This practice has led to the banning of the manufacture and import of such bags in Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...

, Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

, and Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...

. A toilet that pays its users has been opened in Musiri
Musiri
Musiri is a panchayat town in Tiruchirappalli district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Musiri is located at . It has an average elevation of 82 metres . It is the site of an ancient inland port on the Kaveri River also called Pseudostomus or 'one with false mouths'.-Demographics: India...

, Tamil Nadu, India. It is the first of its kind. The feces it receives are composted, and the urine is used as fertilzer for bananas and other food crops. Users are paid up to 12 U.S. cents a month. Before the introduction of modern flush toilets it was common for people to use a chamber pot
Chamber pot
A chamber pot is a bowl-shaped container with a handle, and often a lid, kept in the bedroom under a bed or in the cabinet of a nightstand and...

 at night and then to dispose of the 'nightsoil' in the morning; this practice (known as slopping out
Slopping out
Slopping out is the emptying of buckets of human waste when the cells are unlocked in prisons in the morning. Inmates without a toilet in the cell have to use a bucket or chamber pot while locked in during the night. The reason that some cells do not have toilets is that they date from the...

) continued in prisons in the United Kingdom until recently and is still in use in the Republic of Ireland. The garderobe
Garderobe
The term garderobe describes a place where clothes and other items are stored, and also a medieval toilet. In European public places, a garderobe denotes the cloakroom, wardrobe, alcove or an armoire. In Danish, Dutch, German and Spanish garderobe can mean a cloakroom. In Latvian it means checkroom...

 was used in medieval times and then the privy midden
Privy midden
The privy midden was a toilet system that consisted of a privy associated with a midden . They were widely used in rapidly expanding industrial cities such as Manchester in England, but were difficult to empty and clean. A typical comment was that they were of "most objectionable construction" and...

 and pail closet
Pail closet
A pail closet was a room used for the disposal of human excreta, under the pail system of waste removal. The closet was a small outdoor privy which contained a seat, underneath which a portable receptacle was placed. This pail, into which the user would defecate, was removed and emptied by the...

 in early industrial Europe.

UD Toilet, UDD Toilet, and UDDT System

These toilets have two compartments. One for urine diversion
Urine diversion
-Urine diversion:Urine diversion refers to the separation of urine from feces at the point source, i.e at the toilet or outhouse. A toilet fixture used to help facilitate the separation is called a urine diversion toilet or UDT. The bowel has two separate compartments which may or may not be...

 and one for the feces. A urine diversion toilet, UD toilet or UDT, flushes one or both compartments with water. A urine diversion dry toilet, UDD toilet, or UDDT is more similar to a dry toilet. The term UDDT can also refer to a system incorporating a UD or UDD toilet to recover water or utilize wastes as a fertilizer
Fertilizer
Fertilizer is any organic or inorganic material of natural or synthetic origin that is added to a soil to supply one or more plant nutrients essential to the growth of plants. A recent assessment found that about 40 to 60% of crop yields are attributable to commercial fertilizer use...

 or biofuel
Biofuel
Biofuel is a type of fuel whose energy is derived from biological carbon fixation. Biofuels include fuels derived from biomass conversion, as well as solid biomass, liquid fuels and various biogases...

. Astronauts use a UDDT to recover potable water in the space station
Space station
A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a crew which is designed to remain in space for an extended period of time, and to which other spacecraft can dock. A space station is distinguished from other spacecraft used for human spaceflight by its lack of major propulsion or landing...

.

Chemical Toilets

Chemical toilet
Chemical toilet
A chemical toilet is a toilet which uses chemicals to deodorize the waste instead of simply storing it in a hole, or piping it away to a sewage treatment plant. Common types include aircraft lavatory, some passenger train toilets and the portable toilets used on construction sites and at large...

s which do not require a connection to a water supply are used in a variety of situations. Examples include passenger train toilets
Passenger train toilets
In rail transport, many passenger trains have toilet facilities on board. These are often located at the ends of carriages...

 and airplane toilets and also complicated space toilet
Space toilet
A space toilet, or zero gravity toilet, is a toilet that can be used in a weightless environment. In the absence of weight the collection and retention of liquid and solid waste is directed by use of air flow. Since the air used to direct the waste is returned to the cabin, it is filtered...

s for use in zero-gravity spacecraft.

Public toilets

A public toilet, frequently called a restroom, is accessible to the general public. It may be within a building that, while privately owned, allows public access. Access to a public toilet may require a fee, (pay toilet
Pay toilet
A pay toilet is a public toilet that requires money payment of any individual to use. It may be street furniture or be inside a building, e.g. a mall, department store, railway station, restaurant, etc. The reason for charging money for using toilets usually is for the maintenance of the...

), or may be limited to business's customers.

Depending on culture, there may be varying degrees of separation between men and women and different levels of privacy. Typically, the entire room, or a stall or cubical containing a toilet is lockable. Urinals, if present in a men's toilet, are typically mounted on wall with or without a divider between them. In the most basic form, a public toilet may be not much more than an open latrine
Latrine
A latrine is a communal facility containing one or more commonly many toilets which may be simple pit toilets or in the case of the United States Armed Forces any toilet including modern flush toilets...

. Another form is a street urinal known as a Pissoirs after the French term (see Urinal).

In more luxurious variations there may be an attendant
Washroom attendant
A washroom attendant, restroom attendant or bathroom attendant, is a Janitor for a public toilet. They maintain and clean the facilities, ensuring that toilet paper, soap, paper towels, and other necessary items are kept stocked...

, towels, showers, etc. A fairly common feature in more modern toilets is an area to change baby diapers.

A charge levied in the UK during the mid-20th century was one British penny
Penny (British pre-decimal coin)
The penny of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, was in circulation from the early 18th century until February 1971, Decimal Day....

, hence the generally adopted term "spend a penny" meaning to use the toilet.

Portable Toilets

The portable toilet
Portable toilet
Portable toilet are simple portable enclosures containing a chemical toilet which are typically used as a temporary toilet for construction sites and large gatherings and events. Most of the portable toilets have black open-front-U-shaped toilet seat with cover...

 is used on construction sites and at large outdoor gatherings where there are no other facilities. They are typically self contained units that are made to be easily moved to different locations as needed. Most portable toilets are unisex
Unisex
Unisex stands for the meaning that either gender or sex will be able to, but can also be another term for gender-blindness.The term was coined in the 1962 and was used fairly informally...

 single units with privacy ensured by a simple lock on the door. The units are usually light weight and easily transported by a flatbed truck
Flatbed truck
A flatbed truck is a type of truck which can be either articulated or rigid. As the name suggests, it has an entirely flat, level 'bed' body with no sides or roof...

 and loaded and unloaded by a small forklift. Many portable toilets are small molded plastic or fiberglass
Fiberglass
Glass fiber is a material consisting of numerous extremely fine fibers of glass.Glassmakers throughout history have experimented with glass fibers, but mass manufacture of glass fiber was only made possible with the invention of finer machine tooling...

 portable rooms with a lockable door and a receptacle to catch waste in a chemically treated container. If used for an extended period of time they have to be cleaned out and new chemicals put in the waste receptacle. For servicing multiple portable toilets tanker trucks, often called "Honey Trucks"
Cesspool emptier
A cesspool emptier is a type of specialized tank truck which can suck contaminated water out of hollows such as cesspools and sewage tanks and carry it to a disposal point....

, are equiped with lage vacuums to evacuate the waste and replace the chemicals.

High-tech Toilets

'High-tech' toilets include features such as: automatic-flushing mechanisms that flush a toilet or urinal when finished; water jets, or "bottom washers" like a bidet
Bidet
A bidet is a low-mounted plumbing fixture or type of sink intended for washing the genitalia, inner buttocks, and anus. It was originally a French word.-History:...

; blow dryers; artificial flush sounds to mask noises; and urine and stool analysis for medical monitoring. Matsushita's "Smart Toilet" checks blood pressure, temperature, and blood sugar. Some feature automatic lid operation, heated seats, deodorizing fans or automated paper toilet-seat-cover replacers. Interactive urinal
Interactive urinal
An interactive urinal is a device that allow users to play video games or control interactive displays using a stream of urine. Several designs have been produced to date, usually comprising a urinal fitted with a pressure sensor to measure the strength and position of the urine flow and an LCD...

s have been developed in several countries, allowing users to play video games as with the 'Toylet', produced by Sega
Sega
, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...

, that uses pressure sensors to detect the flow of urine and translates it into on-screen action.

Floating Toilet

A floating toilet is essentially an outhouse
Outhouse
An outhouse is a small structure separate from a main building which often contained a simple toilet and may possibly also be used for housing animals and storage.- Terminology :...

 built on a platform built above or floating on the water. Instead of wastes going into the ground they are collected in a tank or barrel. To reduce the amount of waste that needs to hauled to shore, many use urine diversion
Urine diversion
-Urine diversion:Urine diversion refers to the separation of urine from feces at the point source, i.e at the toilet or outhouse. A toilet fixture used to help facilitate the separation is called a urine diversion toilet or UDT. The bowel has two separate compartments which may or may not be...

. It was developed for residents without quick access to land or connection to a sewer
Sewer
Sewer may refer to:* Part of sewerage, the infrastructure that conveys sewage*Effluent sewer, a collection system that transports only the liquid portion of wastewater through small-diameter pipes laid at contour...

 systems. It is also used in areas subjected to prolonged flooding. The need for this type of toilet is high in areas like Cambodia where the World Bank cited in 2008 that nearly 10,000 people died as a result of poor sanitation..

Etymology

The word toilet came to be used in English along with other French fashions. It originally referred to the toile, French for "cloth", draped over a lady or gentleman's shoulders while their hair was being dressed, and then (in both French and English) by extension to the various elements, and also the whole complex of operations of hairdressing and body care that centered at a dressing table, also covered by a cloth, on which stood a mirror and various brushes and containers for powder and make-up: this ensemble was also a toilette, as also was the period spent at the table, during which close friends or tradesmen were often received. The English poet Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...

 in The Rape of the Lock
The Rape of the Lock
The Rape of the Lock is a mock-heroic narrative poem written by Alexander Pope, first published anonymously in Lintot's Miscellany in May 1712 in two cantos , but then revised, expanded and reissued under Pope's name on March 2, 1714, in a much-expanded 5-canto version...

 (1717) described the intricacies of a lady's preparation:
These various senses are first recorded by the OED in rapid sequence in the later 17th century: the set of "articles required or used in dressing" 1662, the "action or process of dressing" 1681, the cloth on the table 1682, the cloth round the shoulders 1684, the table itself 1695, and the "reception of visitors by a lady during the concluding stages of her toilet" 1703 (also known as a "toilet-call"), but in the sense of a special room the earliest use is 1819, and this does not seem to include a lavatory.

Through the 18th century, everywhere in the English-speaking world, these various uses centred around a lady's draped dressing-table remained dominant. In the 19th century, apparently first in the United States, the word was adapted as a genteel euphemism for the room and the object as we know them now, perhaps following the French usage cabinet de toilette, much as powder-room may be coyly used today, and this has been linked to the introduction of public toilets, for example on railway train
Train
A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...

s, which required a plaque on the door. The original usages have become obsolete, and the table has become a dressing-table.

Vestiges of the original meaning continue to be reflected in terms such as toiletries, eau de toilette and toiletry bag (to carry flannels, soaps, etc). This seemingly contradictory terminology has served as the basis for various parodies e.g. Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan (magazine)
Cosmopolitan is an international magazine for women. It was first published in 1886 in the United States as a family magazine, was later transformed into a literary magazine and eventually became a women's magazine in the late 1960s...

 magazine ("If it doesn't say 'eau de toilette' on the label, it most likely doesn't come from the famed region of Eau de Toilette in France and might not even come from toilets at all.")

The word toilet itself may be considered an impolite word in the United States, while elsewhere the word is used without any embarrassment. The choice of the word used instead of toilet is highly variable, not just by regional dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...

 but also, at least in Britain, by class
Social class
Social classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...

 connotations. Nancy Mitford
Nancy Mitford
Nancy Freeman-Mitford, CBE , styled The Hon. Nancy Mitford before her marriage and The Hon. Mrs Peter Rodd thereafter, was an English novelist and biographer, one of the Bright Young People on the London social scene in the inter-war years...

 wrote an essay out of the choice of wording; see U and non-U English
U and non-U English
U and non-U English usage, with U standing for upper class, and non-U representing the aspiring middle classes, were part of the terminology of popular discourse of social dialects in 1950s Britain and New England. The debate did not concern itself with the speech of the working classes, which in...

. Some manufacturers show this uneasiness with the word and its class attributes: American Standard
American Standard
American Standard may refer to:* American Standard, a brand of plumbing fixtures made by American Standard Brands.* American Standard, a brand of HVAC equipment made by Trane....

, the largest manufacturer, sells them as "toilets", yet the higher priced products of the Kohler Company
Kohler Company
'The Kohler Company is a manufacturing company in Kohler, Wisconsin best known for its plumbing products. Kohler also manufactures furniture, cabinetry, tile, engines, and generators.-History:...

, often installed in more expensive housing, are sold as commode
Commode
A commode, commode with legs, or commode on legs is any of several pieces of furniture. The word commode comes from the French word for "convenient" or "suitable", which in turn comes from the Latin adjective commodus, with similar meanings.Originally, in French furniture, a commode introduced...

s or closets, words which also carry other meanings. Confusingly, products imported from Japan such as TOTO
TOTO (company)
was founded in 1917. It is a company based in Kitakyushu, Japan. It is the world's largest toilet manufacturer.The name "TOTO" is an abbreviation of the two Japanese words forming its full name, . The company invented and patented the Washlet. Plants outside Japan are:*Beijing Toto, China*Taiwan...

 are referred to as "toilets", even though they carry the cachet of higher cost and quality. When referring to the room or the actual piece of equipment, the word toilet is often substituted with other euphemism
Euphemism
A euphemism is the substitution of a mild, inoffensive, relatively uncontroversial phrase for another more frank expression that might offend or otherwise suggest something unpleasant to the audience...

s and dysphemism
Dysphemism
In language, dysphemism, malphemism, and cacophemism refer to the usage of an intentionally harsh, rather than polite, word or expression; roughly the opposite of euphemism...

s (See toilet humor).

As old euphemisms have become accepted, they have been progressively replaced by newer ones, an example of the euphemism treadmill at work. The choice of word used to describe the room or the piece of plumbing relies as much on regional variation (dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...

) as on social situation and level of formality (register
Register (linguistics)
In linguistics, a register is a variety of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting. For example, when speaking in a formal setting an English speaker may be more likely to adhere more closely to prescribed grammar, pronounce words ending in -ing with a velar nasal...

).

The term lavatory, abbreviated in slang to lav, derives from the , which in turn comes from Latin lavō ("I wash"). The word was used to refer to a vessel for washing, such as a sink
Sink
A sink is a bowl-shaped plumbing fixture used for washing hands, for dishwashing or other purposes. Sinks generally have taps that supply hot and cold water and may include a spray feature to be used for faster rinsing...

/wash basin, and thus came to mean a room with such washing vessels, as for example in medieval monasteries, where the lavatorium was the monks' communal washing area. The toilets in monasteries however were not in the lavatorium but in the reredorter
Reredorter
The reredorter was a communal toilet found in mediaeval monasteries in Western Europe and later also in some New World monasteries. It was normally attached to the south end or the east side of the monks' dormitory on the east of the main cloister with seats arranged on the first floor of the...

. Nevertheless the word was later associated with toilets and the meaning evolved into its current one, namely the polite and formal euphemism for a toilet and the room containing it. Lavatory is the common signage
Signage
Signage is any kind of visual graphics created to display information to a particular audience. This is typically manifested in the form of wayfinding information in places such as streets or inside/outside of buildings.-History:...

 for toilets on commercial airlines around the world, see Aircraft lavatory
Aircraft lavatory
An aircraft lavatory is a small room on an aircraft with a toilet and sink.-Minimum standards:Lavatories per passenger provided aboard aircraft vary considerably from airline to airline and aircraft to aircraft...

.

The origin of the (chiefly British) term loo is unknown. According to the OED, the etymology is obscure, but it might derive from the word Waterloo. The first recorded entry is in fact from James Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...

's Ulysses
Ulysses (novel)
Ulysses is a novel by the Irish author James Joyce. It was first serialised in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, and then published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach on 2 February 1922, in Paris. One of the most important works of Modernist literature,...

 (1922): "O yes, mon loup. How much cost? Waterloo. Watercloset".

Other theories are:
  • That it derives from the term "gardyloo" (a corruption of the French phrase gardez l'eau (or maybe: Gare de l'eau!) loosely translated as "watch out for the water!") which was used in medieval times when chamber pot
    Chamber pot
    A chamber pot is a bowl-shaped container with a handle, and often a lid, kept in the bedroom under a bed or in the cabinet of a nightstand and...

    s were emptied from a window onto the street. However the first recorded usage of "loo" comes long after this term became obsolete.
  • That the word comes from nautical terminology, loo being an old-fashioned word for lee. The standard nautical pronunciation (in British English
    British English
    British English, or English , is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere...

    ) of leeward is looward. Early ships were not fitted with toilets but the crew would urinate over the side of the vessel. However it was important to use the leeward side. Using the windward side would result in the urine blown back on board: hence the phrases 'pissing into the wind' and 'spitting into the wind'. Even now most yachtsmen refer to the loo rather than the heads
    Head (watercraft)
    The head is a ship's toilet. The name derives from sailing ships in which the toilet area for the regular sailors was placed at the head or bow of the ship.-Design:In sailing ships the toilet was placed in the bow for two reasons...

    .
  • That the word derives from the 17th century preacher Louis Bourdaloue
    Louis Bourdaloue
    Louis Bourdaloue was a French Jesuit and preacher.He was born in Bourges. At the age of sixteen he entered the Society of Jesus, and was appointed successively professor of rhetoric, philosophy and moral theology, in various Jesuit colleges...

    . Bourdaloue's sermons at the Saint Paul-Saint Louis Church in Paris lasted at least three hours and myth has it that wealthier ladies took along "travelling" chamber pot
    Chamber pot
    A chamber pot is a bowl-shaped container with a handle, and often a lid, kept in the bedroom under a bed or in the cabinet of a nightstand and...

    s that could be hidden under their dresses whenever the need arose to avoid the need to leave. Due to the popularity of the myth the bowls became known as Bourdaloues after the preacher and the name became corrupted to portaloos and sometimes just plain loos due to the habit of shortening words in slang.


The WC refers to the initial letters of Water Closet, which, despite being an English language abbreviation, is not in common use in English-speaking countries - but is widely used internationally: in France , in Italy (pronouced "vi-ci" or "vater"), Romania and Hungary , the Netherlands , Germany and Switzerland , Denmark , Norway Poland and others. The CR refers to the initial letters of Comfort Room, used commonly in the Philippines.

Lexicographer Eric Partridge
Eric Partridge
Eric Honeywood Partridge was a New Zealand/British lexicographer of the English language, particularly of its slang. His writing career was interrupted only by his service in the Army Education Corps and the RAF correspondence department during World War II...

 derives khazi, also spelt karzy, kharsie or carzey, from a low Cockney
Cockney
The term Cockney has both geographical and linguistic associations. Geographically and culturally, it often refers to working class Londoners, particularly those in the East End...

 word carsey originating in the late 19th century and meaning a privy. Carsey also referred to a den or brothel
Brothel
Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...

. It is presumably derived from the Italian casa for house, with the spelling influenced by its similar sound to khaki. Khazi is now most commonly used in the city of Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

 in the UK, away from its cockney slang roots.

An alternative derivation is from Christopher Chippindale, who states that khazi derives from Army slang used by expatriate officers of the British Empire who took a dislike to the habits of, and steaming rain forest inhabited by, the Khasi people of the Khasia hills on the northern frontier of India.

The Dunny
Dunny
Dunny or dunny can is Australian slang for toilet, either the room or the specific fixture, especially an outhouse or other outdoor toilets. It is often used to specify a distinction between a flushing toilet and a non-flushing toilet...

is an Australian expression for an outside toilet or outhouse
Outhouse
An outhouse is a small structure separate from a main building which often contained a simple toilet and may possibly also be used for housing animals and storage.- Terminology :...

. The person who appeared weekly to empty the pan beneath the seat was known as the dunnyman. The word derives from the British dialect word dunnekin, meaning dung-house.

It is now an informal word used for any lavatory and is most often used referring to drop or pit lavatories in the Australian bush, which are also called thunderboxes.

The Privy is an old fashioned term used more in the North of England and in Scotland; "privy" is an old alternative for "private", as in Privy council
Privy council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...

. It is used interchangeably in North America for various terms for the outhouse
Outhouse
An outhouse is a small structure separate from a main building which often contained a simple toilet and may possibly also be used for housing animals and storage.- Terminology :...

.

The netty is the most common word used in North East England. Many outsiders are often bemused when a Geordie
Geordie
Geordie is a regional nickname for a person from the Tyneside region of the north east of England, or the name of the English-language dialect spoken by its inhabitants...

 or a Mackem
Mackem
Mackem is a term that refers to the accent, dialect and people of the Wearside area, or more specifically Sunderland, a city in North East England. Spelling variations include "Mak'em", "Makem", and "Maccam".- Origin :...

 states they are "gannin te the netty" (going to the bathroom). The etymology of the word is uncertain, but it is believed to be either derived from a corruption of "necessity" or from graffiti scrawled on Hadrian's Wall
Hadrian's Wall
Hadrian's Wall was a defensive fortification in Roman Britain. Begun in AD 122, during the rule of emperor Hadrian, it was the first of two fortifications built across Great Britain, the second being the Antonine Wall, lesser known of the two because its physical remains are less evident today.The...

. It is linked to the Italian word gabinetti meaning "toilets" (singular gabinetto).

The standalone toilet has been variously known as backhouse, house of ease, house of office, little house, or outhouse
Outhouse
An outhouse is a small structure separate from a main building which often contained a simple toilet and may possibly also be used for housing animals and storage.- Terminology :...

. The house of office was a common name for a toilet in seventeenth century England, used by, among others, Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...

 on numerous occasions: October 23, 1660: ...going down into my cellar..., I put my foot into a great heap of turds, by which I find Mr Turner's house of office is full and comes into my cellar.

Latrine
Latrine
A latrine is a communal facility containing one or more commonly many toilets which may be simple pit toilets or in the case of the United States Armed Forces any toilet including modern flush toilets...

is a term common in the military, specifically for the Army and Air Force for any point of entry facility where human waste is disposed of, which a civilian might call a bathroom or toilet, regardless of how modern or primitive it is. Traditionally the Royal Navy along with the United States Navy and Marine Corps use the nautical term "Head"
Head (watercraft)
The head is a ship's toilet. The name derives from sailing ships in which the toilet area for the regular sailors was placed at the head or bow of the ship.-Design:In sailing ships the toilet was placed in the bow for two reasons...

 to describe the same type of facility, regardless of whether it is located on a ship or on the land.

History

According to Teresi et al. (2002):
The third millennium B.C. was the "Age of Cleanliness." Toilets and sewers were invented in several parts of the world, and Mohenjo-Daro
Mohenjo-daro
Mohenjo-daro is an archeological site situated in what is now the province of Sindh, Pakistan. Built around 2600 BC, it was one of the largest settlements of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization, and one of the world's earliest major urban settlements, existing at the same time as the...

 circa 2800 B.C. had some of the most advanced, with lavatories built into the outer walls of houses. These were primitive "Western-style" toilets made from bricks with wooden seats on top. They had vertical chutes, through which waste fell into street drains or cesspits. Sir Mortimer Wheeler
Mortimer Wheeler
Brigadier Sir Robert Eric Mortimer Wheeler CH, CIE, MC, FBA, FSA , was one of the best-known British archaeologists of the twentieth century.-Education and career:...

, the director general of archaeology in India from 1944 to 1948, wrote, "The high quality of the sanitary arrangements could well be envied in many parts of the world today."


The toilets at Mohenjo-Daro
Mohenjo-daro
Mohenjo-daro is an archeological site situated in what is now the province of Sindh, Pakistan. Built around 2600 BC, it was one of the largest settlements of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization, and one of the world's earliest major urban settlements, existing at the same time as the...

, built about 2600 B.C. and described above, were only used by the affluent classes. Most people would have squatted over old pots set into the ground or used open pits. The people of the Harappan civilization
Indus Valley Civilization
The Indus Valley Civilization was a Bronze Age civilization that was located in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, consisting of what is now mainly modern-day Pakistan and northwest India...

 in Pakistan and north-western India had primitive water-cleaning toilets that used flowing water in each house that were linked with drains covered with burnt clay bricks. The flowing water removed the human wastes.

Early toilets that used flowing water to remove the waste are also found at Skara Brae
Skara Brae
Skara Brae is a large stone-built Neolithic settlement, located on the Bay of Skaill on the west coast of Mainland, Orkney, Scotland. It consists of ten clustered houses, and was occupied from roughly 3180 BCE–2500 BCE...

 in Orkney, Scotland, which was occupied from about 3100 B.C. until 2500 B.C. Some of the houses there have a drain running directly beneath them, and some of these had a cubicle over the drain. Around the 18th century B.C., toilets started to appear in Minoan Crete; Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

 in the time of the Pharaohs and ancient Persia. In Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 civilization, toilets using flowing water were sometimes part of public bath house
Public bathing
Public baths originated from a communal need for cleanliness. The term public may confuse some people, as some types of public baths are restricted depending on membership, gender, religious affiliation, or other reasons. As societies have changed, public baths have been replaced as private bathing...

s.

Roman toilets, like the ones pictured here, are commonly thought to have been used in the sitting position. But sitting toilets only came into general use in the mid-19th century in the western world. The Roman toilets were probably elevated to raise them above open sewers which were periodically "flushed" with flowing water, rather than elevated for sitting. Squat toilet
Squat toilet
A squat toilet is a toilet used by squatting, rather than sitting. There are several types of squat toilets, but they all consist essentially of a hole in the ground...

s (also known as an Arabic, French, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Iranian, Indian, Turkish or Natural-Position toilet) is a toilet used by squatting, rather than sitting and are still used by the majority of the world's population. There are several types of squat toilets, but they all consist essentially of a hole in the ground or floor with various provisions for human waste.

Culture

There are also many different ways to clean oneself
Anal cleansing
Anal cleansing is the hygienic practice of cleaning the anus after defecation.The anus and buttocks may be cleansed with toilet paper or similar paper products, especially in many Western countries. Elsewhere, water may be used...

 after using the toilet depends significantly on national mores
Mores
Mores, in sociology, are any given society's particular norms, virtues, or values. The word mores is a plurale tantum term borrowed from Latin, which has been used in the English language since the 1890s....

 and local resources. An important part of early childhood education
Early childhood education
Early childhood education is the formal teaching and care of young children by people other than their family or in settings outside of the home. 'Early childhood' is usually defined as before the age of normal schooling - five years in most nations, though the U.S...

 is toilet training
Toilet training
Toilet training, or potty training, is the process of training a young child to use the toilet for urination and defecation, though training may start with a smaller toilet bowl-shaped device...

.

The most common method of cleaning after using a toilet in the Western world
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...

 is toilet paper
Toilet paper
Toilet paper is a soft paper product used to maintain personal hygiene after human defecation or urination. However, it can also be used for other purposes such as blowing one's nose when one has a cold or absorbing common spills around the house, although paper towels are more used for the latter...

 or sometimes using a bidet
Bidet
A bidet is a low-mounted plumbing fixture or type of sink intended for washing the genitalia, inner buttocks, and anus. It was originally a French word.-History:...

. In the Middle East and some countries in Asia, and South Asian countries such as India and Pakistan, the custom is to use water, either with or without toilet paper. Traditionally, the left hand is used for this, for which reason that hand is considered impolite or polluted in many eastern countries. Many poems have been composed on Latrines in India like "Latrine Karne Jaa Rae Hain, Chakkar Laga Ke Aa Rae Hain, Ghoom Ghoom Ke Aa Rae Hain" (I'm going latrine, and just coming after feeling fresh). The Islamic faith has a particular code, Qadaa' al-Haajah describing Islamic toilet etiquette
Islamic toilet etiquette
The Islamic faith has particular rules regarding personal hygiene when going to the toilet. This code is known as Qadaa' al-Haajah.Issues of chirality, such as whether one uses the left or right hand and foot to step into or out of toilet areas, are derived from hadith sources...

.

Toilet humour is a name given to a type of off-colour humour
Off-color humor
The term off-color humor is an Americanism used to describe jokes, prose, poems, black comedy, blue comedy, insult comedy, cringe comedy and skits that deal with topics that are considered to be in poor taste or overly vulgar by the prevailing morality of a culture...

 dealing with defecation
Defecation
Defecation is the final act of digestion by which organisms eliminate solid, semisolid or liquid waste material from the digestive tract via the anus. Waves of muscular contraction known as peristalsis in the walls of the colon move fecal matter through the digestive tract towards the rectum...

, urination
Urination
Urination, also known as micturition, voiding, peeing, weeing, pissing, and more rarely, emiction, is the ejection of urine from the urinary bladder through the urethra to the outside of the body. In healthy humans the process of urination is under voluntary control...

, and flatulence
Flatulence
Flatulence is the expulsion through the rectum of a mixture of gases that are byproducts of the digestion process of mammals and other animals. The medical term for the mixture of gases is flatus, informally known as a fart, or simply gas...

.

See also

  • Bidet
    Bidet
    A bidet is a low-mounted plumbing fixture or type of sink intended for washing the genitalia, inner buttocks, and anus. It was originally a French word.-History:...

  • Blackwater (waste)
    Blackwater (waste)
    Blackwater is a term dating to at least the 1970s used to describe wastewater containing fecal matter and urine. It is also known as brown water, foul water, or sewage...

  • Close stool
    Close stool
    A close stool, used from at least the sixteenth century until the introduction of indoor plumbing, was an enclosed cabinet or box at sitting height with an opening in the top, which might be disguised by a folding outer lid. The close stool contained a pewter or earthenware chamberpot to receive...

  • Ecological sanitation
    Ecological sanitation
    Ecological sanitation, also known as ecosan or eco-san, are terms coined to describe a form of sanitation that usually involves urine diversion and the recycling of water and nutrients contained within human wastes back into the local environment....

  • Flush!: The Scoop on Poop throughout the Ages
    Flush!: The Scoop on Poop throughout the Ages
    Flush!: The Scoop on Poop throughout the Ages is a 2007 non-fiction children's book written and illustrated by Charise Mericle Harper.-Summary:...

     (book)
  • Flying toilet
    Flying toilet
    A flying toilet is a facetious name for the use of plastic bags for defecation, which are then thrown into ditches, on the roadside, or simply as far away as possible....

  • Latrines
  • Public toilet
  • Japanese toilets
    Toilets in Japan
    There are two styles of toilets commonly found in Japan. The oldest type is a simple squat toilet, which is still somewhat common in public conveniences. After World War II, modern Western-type flush toilets and urinals became common. The current state of the art for Western-style toilets is the...

  • Toilet-related injury
    Toilet-related injury
    There are many toilet-related injuries and some toilet-related deaths throughout history and in urban legends.-Accidents:In young boys, one of the most common causes of genital injury is when the toilet seat falls down while using the toilet. Smaller children run the risk of drowning if they fall...

  • Urinal
    Urinal
    A urinal is a specialized toilet for urinating into. It has the form of a container or simply a wall, with drainage and automatic or manual flushing....

  • The Truth About Poop
    The Truth About Poop
    The Truth About Poop is a book by Susan E. Goodman and illustrated by Elwood H. Smith.-Book information:The book has chapters about the nature of excrement, its production, varieties, uses in love, war, sports, the development of flushing toilets, toilet paper, and urban waste...

     (book)
  • World Toilet Organization
    World Toilet Organization
    World Toilet Day is a global non-profit organization committed to improving toilet and sanitation conditions worldwide. WTD focuses on toilets instead of water, which receives more attention and resources under the common subject of sanitation...

     (organizers of the annual "World Toilet Summit")

Further reading

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