A commode is any of many pieces of
furniture
Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Fu ...
. The ''
Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...
'' has multiple meanings of "commode". The first relevant definition reads: "A piece of furniture with drawers and shelves; in the bedroom, a sort of elaborate chest of drawers (so in French); in the drawing room, a large (and generally old-fashioned) kind of chiffonier." The
drawing room
A drawing room is a room in a house where visitors may be entertained, and an alternative name for a living room. The name is derived from the 16th-century terms withdrawing room and withdrawing chamber, which remained in use through the 17th cent ...
is itself a term for a formal reception room, and a
chiffonier
The term chiffonier, also chiffonnier, may refer to one of at least two types of furniture. Its name comes directly from a French piece of furniture, the ''chiffonier''. The French name, which comes from the French for a rag-picker, suggests that ...
is, in this sense, a small
sideboard dating from the early 19th century.
Another meaning attested is a
washstand, a piece of furniture equipped with basin, jug, and towel rail, and often with space to store the
chamber pot behind closed doors. A washstand in the bedroom pre-dates indoor bathrooms and running water.
In
British English
British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in ...
, "commode" is the standard term for a
commode chair
A commode chair, known in British English simply as a commode is a type of chair used by someone who needs help going to the toilet due to illness, injury or disability. A commode chair sometimes has wheels to allow easy transport to the bathroom ...
, often on wheels, enclosing a
chamber pot—as used in hospitals and assisted living homes. In the United States, a "commode" is now a colloquial synonym for a
flush toilet.
The word ''commode'' comes from the
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
word for "convenient" or "suitable", which in turn comes from the Latin adjective ''commodus'', with similar meanings.
History and types
France
The term originates in the vocabulary of
French furniture
French furniture comprises both the most sophisticated furniture made in Paris for king and court, aristocrats and rich upper bourgeoisie, on the one hand, and French provincial furniture made in the provincial cities and towns many of which, like ...
from about 1700. At that time, a ''commode'' meant a
cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filing ...
or
chest of drawers, low enough so that it sat at the height of the
dado rail (''Ã hauteur d'appui''). It was a piece of
veneer
Veneer may refer to:
Materials
* Veneer (dentistry), a cosmetic treatment for teeth
* Masonry veneer, a thin facing layer of brick
* Stone veneer, a thin facing layer of stone
* Wood veneer, a thin facing layer of wood
Arts and entertainment
* ' ...
ed
case furniture
A cabinet is a case or cupboard with shelves and/or drawers for storing or displaying items. Some cabinets are stand alone while others are built in to a wall or are attached to it like a medicine cabinet. Cabinets are typically made of wood (sol ...
much wider than it was high, raised on high or low legs.
Commodes were made by ''
ébénistes''; the French word for "
cabinet-maker
A cabinet is a case or cupboard with shelves and/or drawers for storing or displaying items. Some cabinets are stand alone while others are built in to a wall or are attached to it like a medicine cabinet. Cabinets are typically made of wood (s ...
" is derived from
ebony, a black tropical
hardwood
Hardwood is wood from dicot trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen. Hardwood (which comes from ...
notable as a foreign luxury. The beautiful wood was complemented with
ormolu (gilt-bronze
drawer pulls). The piece of furniture would be provided with a marble slab top selected to match the marble of the
chimneypiece.
A commode occupied a prominent position in the room for which it was intended: it stood against the
pier between the windows, in which case it would often be surmounted by a mirror glass, or a pair of identical commodes would flank the chimneypiece or occupy the center of each end wall.
''Bombé'' commodes, with surfaces shaped in three dimensions, were a feature of the
rococo
Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...
style called ''
Louis Quinze
The Louis XV style or ''Louis Quinze'' (, ) is a style of architecture and decorative arts which appeared during the reign of Louis XV. From 1710 until about 1730, a period known as the Régence, it was largely an extension of the Louis XIV style ...
''. Rectilinear neoclassical, or ''
Louis Seize'', commodes might have such deep drawers or doors that the feet were ''en toupie''—in the tapering
turned shape of a child's
spinning top. Both rococo and neoclassical commodes might have cabinets flanking the main section, in which case such a piece was a ''commode à encoignures''; pairs of ''
encoignure
Encoignure is a type of furniture located in a corner of a room. In French, it literally means the angle, or return, formed by the junction of two walls. Since the 20th century, the word has been chiefly used to designate a small armoire, oakley ...
s'' or corner-cabinets might also be designed to complement a commode and stand in the flanking corners of a room. If a commode had open shelves flanking the main section it was a ''commode à l'anglaise''; if it did not have enclosing
drawers
A drawer is a box-shaped container inside a piece of furniture that can be pulled out horizontally to access its contents. Drawers are built into numerous types of furniture, including cabinets, chests of drawers (bureaus), desks, and the l ...
it was a ''commode à vantaux''.
Before the mid-eighteenth century the commode had become such a necessary article of furniture that it might be made in ''menuiserie'' (carpentry), of solid painted oak, walnut or fruitwoods, with carved decoration, typical of
French provincial furniture.
England
![Commode, antique w pitcher](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Commode%2C_antique_w_pitcher.jpg)
In the English-speaking world, ''commode'' passed into cabinet-makers' parlance
in London by the mid-eighteenth century to describe
chests of drawers with gracefully curved fronts, and sometimes with shaped sides as well, perceived as being in the "French" taste.
Thomas Chippendale employed the term "French Commode Tables" to describe designs in ''The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Director'' (1753), and
Ince and Mayhew illustrated a "Commode Chest of drawers", plate xliii, in their ''Universal System of Household Furniture'', 1759–62.
John Gloag
John Gloag (10 August 1896 - 17 July 1981) was an English writer in the fields of furniture design and architecture.
Gloag also wrote science fiction novels. Gloag served with the Welsh Guards during the First World War, and was invalided home af ...
notes that ''Commode'' expanded to describe any piece of furniture with
a serpentine front, such as a
dressing table
Dressing commonly refers to:
* Dressing (knot), the process of arranging a knot
* Dressing (medical), a medical covering for a wound, usually made of cloth
* Dressing, putting on clothing
Dressing may also refer to:
Food
* Salad dressing, a type ...
, or even a chair seat. Gloag points out that
Thomas Shearer's designs for two "commode dressing chests" illustrated in ''The Cabinet-Makers' London Book of Prices'', 1788, plate 17, are repeated, but as "serpentine dressing chests", in ''The Prices of Cabinet Work'', 1797 edition.
Toilet
![Commode, Europe, 1831-1900 Wellcome L0057869](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Commode%2C_Europe%2C_1831-1900_Wellcome_L0057869.jpg)
In
British English
British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in ...
, "commode" is the standard term for a
commode chair
A commode chair, known in British English simply as a commode is a type of chair used by someone who needs help going to the toilet due to illness, injury or disability. A commode chair sometimes has wheels to allow easy transport to the bathroom ...
, often on wheels, enclosing a
chamber pot—as used in hospitals and the homes of invalids. (The historic equivalent is the
close stool, hence the coveted and prestigious position
Groom of the Stool
The Groom of the Stool (formally styled: "Groom of the King's Close stool, Close Stool") was the most intimate of an List of English monarchs, English monarch's courtiers, responsible for assisting the king in excretion and hygiene.
The physica ...
for a courtier close to the monarch.) This piece of furniture is termed in French a chaise percée ("pierced chair"); similar items were made specifically as moveable
bidets for washing.
In the United States, a "commode" is a colloquial synonym for a
flush toilet particularly in the
American South
The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...
.
See also
*
Nightstand
A nightstand, alternatively night table, bedside table, daystand or bedside cabinet, is a small table or cabinet designed to stand beside a bed or elsewhere in a bedroom. Modern nightstands are usually small bedside tables, often with one or s ...
, a small table or similar next to a bed
*
Lowboy
A lowboy is an American collectors term for one type of dressing table, vanity, or duchess (Australian English).Lowboy is a "collectors term for a dressing table made in 18th century America often with a matching highboy ". It is a small table ...
and
highboy
A tallboy is a piece of furniture incorporating a chest of drawers and a wardrobe on top. A highboy consists of double chest of drawers (a chest-on-chest), with the lower section usually wider than the upper. A lowboy is a table-height set of dr ...
References
{{Toilets , state=expanded
Cabinets (furniture)
Furniture