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Bathroom Vs Restroom, How Are These Words Different?

Bathroom Vs Restroom, How Are These Words Different?

People are constantly using the words bathroom and restroom, but do these words mean the same thing, or is there any difference between them?

A bathroom is a room in a home for personal hygiene. It includes a sink, a shower or bathtub or both, and sometimes a toilet. A restroom is a public toilet, a room with one or more toilets and sinks for the general population.

The bathroom is found at a personal house, and it is exclusive for the people living there and their visitors. Sometimes the toilet can be included in the bathroom or, given space, be in its separate room.

Some countries consider having the toilet in the same place as the bathtub or shower to be insanitary.

Restrooms are for public use. These are found in restaurants, transport, or gas stations. Some say that we use “restroom” in public when asking for the bathroom because it sounds more polite. Still, the truth is that the word refers to a toilet without a bathing facility that everyone can use.

The restrooms are usually separated into male and female rooms. Some places have it as unisex if the space is small, and there’s only one toilet. Male facilities typically have both toilets and urinals.

Throughout history, bathing has been a collective activity. The western world doesn’t do that many public baths anymore. However, the social activity of cleaning one’s body is still important in Japan and the Islamic culture.

In Japan, these public baths are called “Sento,” Islamic’s use “Turkish baths.”

A bathroom can also have closets for towels and clothes. It can also contain cabinets for cleaning products.

In a bigger house, bathrooms are different rooms than a single toilet usually reserved for visitors. People used to have the toilet outside the house, with some cultures calling it a pit latrine.

It is difficult nowadays to find a bathroom without a toilet—it saves space and money to have it all together in one room.

Restrooms are found in schools, offices, museums, movie theaters, bars, restaurants, and entertainment venues. Sometimes these restrooms require payments, and other times, you could find an attendant there offering you a towel or hygiene products.

Tipping a restroom attendant is a common courtesy.

The definitive difference between the words bathroom and restroom is that one refers to a private room. In contrast, the other refers to a public one.

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Why Are Bathrooms Called Bathrooms?

The word bathroom comes from 1780, a bath-room, a room with an apparatus for bathing. It has been used as a less “offensive” word for “relieving yourself, urinate or defecate” in the United States since the 20th century. It is typically used to excuse yourself even if a bathroom is not involved or needed.

The bathroom is also known as a lavatory. The name of the toilet room in a plane is a lavatory. British people called a bathroom without bathing facilities a “water closet” or a “loo.”

A washroom is a room equipped with a sink and a single toilet. The term is prevalent in Canada. This is a room specially reserved for guests. In some countries, it is still referred to as a powder room.

The powder room has become a polite term for a public women’s bathroom. Years ago, it was mainly used as a room for applying powder to the nose or the face and not getting it all over a house or place.

Since women primarily used the powder room, the name stuck as a synonym for female lavatories.

Americans also referred to bathrooms as the “little boys” or “little girls” room.

What Is A Half Bath?

A half bath is another name for a bathroom that only consists of a single sink and a toilet and is reserved for guests.

When people look for homes to buy, they also look for how many half baths a house has and where they are.

The quantity of half bath is crucial to know how many people you can have at your home simultaneously. The location is to see where you can socialize in a group without interfering with the restroom visits.

The half bath is typically on a hallway, beneath a stair, backroom, or basement.

So If A Half Bath Exists, What Is A Full Bathroom?

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The bathroom used to be the smallest room in a house, in an apartment they still are. This room is now a haven for an attempt of privacy and relaxation, so its size has increased through the years.

A full bathroom has a sink, a toilet, a shower, and a bathtub. These are the four main elements of a bathroom.

Smaller places have a three-quarter bath, meaning they have 3 of the four main elements in a bathroom. The element missing is usually the tub or the shower.

Older houses only had a tub, but adding a shower would not be difficult. Houses or apartments with only a shower stall mean the bathroom is the smaller version of the three quarters. Adding a bathtub would be considerably difficult.

What Would Be A Good Size Bathroom?

The size of a bathroom depends mainly on existing building codes. According to these, to accommodate a bathroom, you need at least 40 square feet. A large bathroom can be 10 square feet or more.

The size of a bathroom also depends on the side of the house. Americans have been building an average of two bathrooms per person in the last half a century. So it also depends on how many bathrooms you want in your house.

In a large modern house, a bathroom can be between 70 and 110 square feet. The size could depend on how much room you want to sacrifice for a bathroom size.

How Far Does A Toilet Need To Be From The Shower?

This also depends on building codes. Codes required 15 inches from any obstruction and not closer than 30 inches from any other bathroom installment. Some experts recommend 32 inches.

A toilet or a bidet needs to have 24 inches or more of clear space in front of it.

Other Word Usage Posts

What Is A Bidet?

A bidet is a device designed to be sat on so you can wash your genitals and for personal hygiene after using the toilet. It also can be used after sexual intercourse.

A bidet comes in different types, a standalone that looks more like a toilet, a hose-type shower, and as an add-on for your toilet.

A bidet has been used for a long time, and it is still a custom in many countries that do not use toilet paper for people to clean themselves with water.

Health experts also say that the combination of toilet paper and washing via bidet can help reduce the risk of hemorrhoids and genital issues.

Modern add-on bidets have enough pressure to clean yourself that you might not need toilet paper afterward.

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Wait, What Countries Do Not Use Toilet Paper?

In India, tourists may only find toilet paper in hotels. Most Asian countries like China, Thailand, Japan, and Korea rarely use toilet paper, and it is hard to find them.

Countries like France, Portugal, Argentina, and Spain prefer the use of a bidet.

In Conclusion, Should I Say Restroom Or Bathroom?

Both words are okay, and every American would understand what you mean when you say that you’re going to the bathroom or restroom.

The difference between the words is that bathroom refers to a room in your home, and a restroom is a public room found in restaurants or public places.

At the end of the day, bathrooms and restrooms are places where you can satisfy your needs, wash and freshen yourself up.