# loo

> English word · Noun · IPA /luː/ · frequency rank #19,636

## Definitions
1. A lavatory: a room used for urination and defecation.
2. A toilet: a fixture used for urination and defecation.

## Etymology
Uncertain, although usually derived in some way from Waterloo, the site of Wellington's 1815 victory over Napoleon, likely via a pun based on water closet. Other suggested derivations include corruptions of French l'eau (“water”), lieu (“place”), lieux d'aisances (“'places of convenience': a lavatory”), lieu à l'anglaise (“'English place': a British-style lavatory”), bordalou (“a diminutive chamber pot”) or gardez l'eau (“'mind the water'”), via Scots gardyloo, formerly used in Edinburgh while emptying chamber pots out of windows; the supposed use of "Room 100" as the lavatory in Continental hotels; a popularisation of lew, a regional corruption of lee (“downwind”), in reference to shepherds' privies or the former use of beakheads on that side of the ship for urination and defecation; or a clipped form of the name of the unpopular 19th-century Countess of Lichfield Lady Harriett Georgiana Louisa Hamilton Anson, who was the subject of an 1867 prank whereby her bedroom's name-card was placed on the door to the lavatory, prompting the other guests to begin speaking of "going to Lady Louisa".

## Easily confused with
- **Lt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loo-vs-lt)
- **LP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loo-vs-lp)
- **Ls** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loo-vs-ls)
- **lu** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loo-vs-lu)
- **LV** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loo-vs-lv)
- **LR** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loo-vs-lr)
- **lx** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loo-vs-lx)
- **LZ** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loo-vs-lz)
- **lot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loo-vs-lot)
- **low** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loo-vs-low)
- **los** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loo-vs-los)
- **Lou** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loo-vs-lou)
- **LSU** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loo-vs-lsu)
- **lux** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loo-vs-lux)
- **LSD** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loo-vs-lsd)
- **lug** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loo-vs-lug)
- **luv** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loo-vs-luv)
- **lyn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loo-vs-lyn)
- **luz** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loo-vs-luz)
- **Lui** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loo-vs-lui)

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/loo