What does faucet mean?
A faucet is a plumbing fixture fitted to the end of a pipe that regulates the flow of water or another liquid, usually operated by turning a handle or lifting a lever. Faucets are found wherever running water is drawn on demand — kitchen sinks, bathroom basins bathtubs, laundry tubs, garden spigots, and public drinking fountains — and they range from simple single-handle designs to elaborate fixtures with temperature controls and pull-down sprayers. The word is the standard everyday term throughout North America, whereas British English uses 'tap' for both indoor fixtures and outdoor ones; American speakers reserve 'tap' chiefly for 'tap water' and beer taps. Because faucets are among the most frequently touched surfaces in any home, they figure prominently in everyday talk about leaks, repairs, water conservation, and hygiene. Figuratively, the word also appears in phrases about opening or shutting off a flow of something intangible.
nounA device attached to the end of a pipe that controls the flow of water or other liquid, typically opened and closed by turning a handle or lifting a lever.
- A valve-like fixture at the end of a pipe used to draw off or control the flow of water or other liquid.
"She turned off the faucet and dried her hands on a towel."
"Please turn off the faucet while you brush your teeth."
"A steady drip from the kitchen faucet kept him awake all night."
Regular plural; used when speaking of fixtures collectively, as in a house or building.
"All the faucets in the new apartment have brushed-nickel finishes."
The humble faucet likely owes its name to an old French word for drilling a hole in a barrel — and possibly, oddly, to the same Latin root as 'false.'
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of faucet
The word entered English in the late Middle Ages, borrowed from Old French 'fausset,' which denoted the tool used to bore a tap-hole into a cask before a spigot was driven into it. Its further ancestry is uncertain, but many authorities connect it ultimately to Latin 'falsus' ('false'), the same source as English 'false' and 'falsify' — perhaps because the drilled hole was a kind of deception of the barrel, though the exact semantic path is debated. Originally referring to the tap of a wine or beer cask rather than a household water fixture, the sense shifted as piped indoor plumbing spread, so that today the word almost always means the water valve at a sink or basin.
How faucet is actually used
In British, Irish, Australian, and New Zealand English, the ordinary word for this fixture is 'tap'; 'faucet' in those regions is largely confined to American usage and to fixed expressions like 'faucet ear.' In American English, however, 'tap' survives mainly in compounds like 'tap water.'
Easily confused with faucet
A facet is one flat face or side of something, such as a cut gemstone or an aspect of a problem, while a faucet is a plumbing fixture that dispenses water.