What does commode mean?
A commode is a word that has travelled a remarkable distance from elegance to practicality. Originally, in eighteenth-century France, it denoted a fashionable low chest of drawers — often a luxurious marble-topped piece in the Louis XV style — and before that a small cabinet concealing a chamber pot. Today, in hospitals and home care, the term is far more likely to refer to a movable chair fitted with a removable receptacle, serving as a toilet for patients or elderly people who cannot easily reach a bathroom. In everyday American English, 'commode' can also be a somewhat informal or old-fashioned synonym for the toilet itself. The word derives from the French 'commode', meaning convenient or suitable, itself from Latin 'commodus'. Its dual identity — antique furniture on the one hand, medical equipment on the other — makes it a useful term precisely because context determines which sense applies, and readers should attend to setting when interpreting it.
nounA commode is a low chest of drawers, originally often fitted with a chamber pot, or more commonly today a chair-like piece of furniture housing a toilet for people with limited mobility.
- A movable chair with a removable receptacle, used as a toilet by people who cannot easily reach a bathroom
- A low chest of drawers, especially one in French 18th-century style, used as a decorative piece of furniture
- (historical) A cabinet or stand enclosing a chamber pot
"After her hip surgery, the nurses placed a commode beside her bed so she would not have to walk to the bathroom."
"The hospital provided a bedside commode for his recovery at home."
"An exquisite Louis XVI commode stood against the drawing-room wall."
Standard English plural, regular formation.
"The ward was equipped with several commodes."
The word 'commode' comes from the French word for 'convenient' — which is ironic, given what it eventually became most famous for holding.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of commode
Commode entered English from French in the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century. The French word derives from 'commode', meaning convenient or appropriate, from Latin 'commodus' ('suitable, convenient'), the same root that gives English 'commodious', 'commodity', and 'accommodate'. It first referred to a convenient cabinet or chest, later specifically one concealing a chamber pot, and gradually came to denote both fine chests of drawers and, in modern medical use, a portable toilet chair.
How commode is actually used
In modern American usage 'commode' often simply means toilet, sometimes with slightly old-fashioned or informal connotations. In British and antique-dealing contexts it retains its original meaning as a piece of furniture. In medical and caregiving contexts, 'bedside commode' is the standard term.
Easily confused with commode
Commode is a piece of furniture or toilet, while commodity is an article of trade or economic good.