# stool

> English word · Noun · IPA /stuːl/ · frequency rank #14,641

## Definitions
1. A seat, especially for one person and without armrests.
2. A seat, especially for one person and without armrests.
3. A seat, especially for one person and without armrests.
4. A seat, especially for one person and without armrests.
5. A seat, especially for one person and without armrests.
6. A close-stool; a seat used for urination and defecation: a chamber pot, commode, outhouse seat, or toilet.
7. A plant that has been cut down until its main stem is close to the ground, resembling a stool, to promote new growth.
8. Feces, excrement.
9. A production of feces or excrement, an act of defecation, stooling.
10. A decoy; a portable piece of wood to which a pigeon is fastened to lure wild birds.
11. A small channel on the side of a vessel, for the deadeyes of the backstays.
12. Material, such as oyster shells, spread on the sea bottom for oyster spat to adhere to.

## Etymology
From Middle English stool, stole, stol, from Old English stōl (“chair, seat, throne”), from Proto-West Germanic *stōl, from Proto-Germanic *stōlaz (“chair”) (compare West Frisian stoel, Dutch stoel, German Stuhl, Swedish/Norwegian/Danish stol, Finnish tuoli, Estonian tool), from Proto-Indo-European *stoh₂los (compare Lithuanian stálas, Russian стол (stol, “table”), Russian стул (stul, “chair”), Serbo-Croatian stol (“table”), Slovene stol (“chair”), Albanian kështallë (“crutch”), Ancient Greek στήλη (stḗlē, “block of stone used as a prop or buttress to a wall”)), from *steh₂- (“to stand”). More at stand.
The medical use derives from sense 2 (seat used for defecation).

## Easily confused with
- **stop** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stool-vs-stop)
- **stow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stool-vs-stow)
- **story** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stool-vs-story)
- **store** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stool-vs-store)
- **storm** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stool-vs-storm)
- **stops** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stool-vs-stops)
- **stove** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stool-vs-stove)
- **stout** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stool-vs-stout)
- **swoop** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stool-vs-swoop)
- **stoop** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stool-vs-stoop)
- **Stowe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stool-vs-stowe)
- **stork** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stool-vs-stork)
- **swoon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stool-vs-swoon)
- **stroll** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stool-vs-stroll)
- **sol** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sol-vs-stool)
- **soon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/soon-vs-stool)
- **soul** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/soul-vs-stool)
- **soil** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/soil-vs-stool)
- **sooo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sooo-vs-stool)
- **soot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/soot-vs-stool)

## Common misspellings (7)
`sotol`, `sstool`, `stol`, `stolo`, `stooll`, `sttool`, `tsool`

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