urinal

urinal

See also: Urinal

English

A urinal in a public toilet with its cake in place.

Etymology

From Middle English urinal, urynal, orynal, from Old French urinal, orinal (“vessel for urination”), from Latin ūrīnālis (“urinary: related to piss”). Use for plumbing fixtures attested from 1851.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: yo͞o-rīʹnəl, IPA^(key): /juːˈɹaɪnəl/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (US) enPR: yo͝orʹĭn-əl, yûrʹĭn-əl, IPA^(key): /ˈjʊɹɪnəl/, /ˈjɝɪnəl/
• (General Australian) enPR: yo͝orʹĭn-əl, IPA^(key): /ˈjʉːəɹɪnəl/
• Rhymes: -aɪnəl

Noun

urinal (plural urinals)

1. A device or fixture used for urination, particularly:
   1. (historical medicine and alchemy) A glass vial used for examining or storing urine.
   2. (obsolete) A chamber pot specially designed or considered as a device for urination.
   3. (obsolete) A device for urination worn by patients suffering incontinence.
   4. A plumbing fixture intended for standing urination, typically by men and boys.
2. (chemistry, obsolete) Any oblong glass vessel shaped like the old alchemist's urinal.
3. (obsolete) A room or structure used for urination: a latrine; an outhouse; a lavatory.

Synonyms

• (chamber pot): See Thesaurus:chamber pot
• (fixture): See Thesaurus:toilet
• (room or structure): See Thesaurus:bathroom

Derived terms

• urinal cake
• Urinal of the Planets

Related terms

• urine, urinate, urination

Translations

a vessel specially used for urination — See also translations at chamber pot

Bulgarian: подлога (bg) f (podloga) Dutch: urinaal (nl) n Finnish: potta (fi) French: pistolet (fr) m, urinal (fr) m German: Ente (de) f Irish: fualán m, briollán m Portuguese: mictório (pt) m Serbo-Croatian: ćurak (sh) m, curenje Sicilian: urinali m Spanish: chata (es) m, orinal (es) m

fixture for standing urination

Arabic: مِبْوَلَة‎ f (mibwala) Bulgarian: писоар m (pisoar) Catalan: urinari (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 便池 (zh) (biànchí), 便器 (zh) (biànqì) Czech: pisoár (cs) m Danish: urinal (da) n, urinale n Dutch: urinoir (nl), pisbak (nl) Finnish: pisoaari (fi), urinaali French: urinoir (fr) m German: Urinal (de) n, Pissoir (de) n, Pinkelbecken n Greek: ουρητήριο (el) n (ouritírio) Hungarian: piszoár (hu) Icelandic: pissuskál f (informal), þvagskál f Irish: úirinéal m, fualán m Italian: orinatoio (it) m Japanese: 便器 (ja) (べんき, benki) Lithuanian: pisuaras m Luxembourgish: Pissoir Macedonian: писоа́р m (pisoár) Maori: mīanga Norwegian: Bokmål: pissoar n, urinal n Nynorsk: pissoar n, urinal n Polish: pisuar (pl) m Portuguese: urinol (pt) m, mictório (pt) m Romanian: pisoar (ro) n Russian: писсуа́р (ru) m (pissuár) Sicilian: urinali m Spanish: urinario (es) m, mingitorio (es) m Swedish: urinoar (sv) c, pissoar (sv) c Tagalog: ihian Turkish: pisuvar (tr) Ukrainian: пісуа́р (uk) m (pisuár) Welsh: troethfa f

latrine — see latrine

outhouse — see outhouse

lavatory — see toilet

Adjective

urinal (not comparable)

1. Synonym of urinary
   • 1892, R. Harvey Reed, “How Can We Control the Privy Vault Nuisance?”, in Gilbert I. Cullen, editor, The Cincinnati Medical Journal, volume VII, number 4, Cincinnati, Oh.: M. A. Spencer & Co., pages 130–131:

     If on the other hand it is to be used by a congregation, which as a rule, only occupy their church once, twice or three times a week, then I would suggest where it can be obtained that an improved “water closet” be used, and by this I mean a urinal and fecal basin, which can be kept clean by liberal flushing with water after each time it is used, and so trapped and ventilated as to absolutely protect the room in which it is placed from any contamination whatever. […] This same closet can be arranged for urinal purposes by having the lid of the seat for each person attached to a hinge so that it can be raised up when desired to be used for micturation^[sic] only.

   • 1903, In the Supreme Court of the United States: The State of Missouri vs. the State of Illinois and the Sanitary District of Chicago, pages 2504–2505:

     Q. What amount, in cubic feet, would there be in Port Huron for one year, of fecal and urinal discharge into the sewers?

   • 1975, G. D. Bubenzer; J. C. Converse, Impact of Freezing and Thawing Soil Conditions on the Movement of Nutrients by Water from Rural Lands:

     Urinal and fecal wastes were placed in runoff boxes at the base, midpoint and top of 20cm snow packs. The units were subjected to carefully controlled temperature fluctuations ranging from 8 to 12 degrees C. Urinal losses were determined primarily by the quantity of water which passed through the manure layer. Fecal nitrogen losses were much lower than urinal losses.

References

• "urinal, n.", in the Oxford English Dictionary (1926), Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for urinal in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913)

Anagrams

• Lurian, laurin, unrail

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Danish

Alternative forms

• urinale

Etymology

From Late Latin ūrīnāle, neuter of ūrīnālis (“pertaining to urine”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /urinaːl/, [uɐ̯iˈnæːˀl]

Noun

urinal n (singular definite urinalet, plural indefinite urinaler)

1. urinal (appliance for male restrooms)
2. urinal (small container to collect or measure urine)

Inflection

Declension of urinal

neuter gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	urinal	urinalet	urinaler	urinalerne
genitive	urinals	urinalets	urinalers	urinalernes

Further reading

• urinal on the Danish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^da

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French

Noun

urinal m (plural urinaux)

1. (historical) urinal (pot)

Further reading

• “urinal”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /uʁiˈnaːl/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːl

Adjective

urinal (no predicative form, strong nominative masculine singular urinaler, not comparable)

1. (relational) urine; urinal, urinary

Declension

Positive forms of urinal (uncomparable, no predicate)

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter	all genders
predicative		—	—	—	—
strong declension (without article)	nominative	urinaler	urinale	urinales	urinale
	genitive	urinalen	urinaler	urinalen	urinaler
	dative	urinalem	urinaler	urinalem	urinalen
	accusative	urinalen	urinale	urinales	urinale
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der urinale	die urinale	das urinale	die urinalen
	genitive	des urinalen	der urinalen	des urinalen	der urinalen
	dative	dem urinalen	der urinalen	dem urinalen	den urinalen
	accusative	den urinalen	die urinale	das urinale	die urinalen
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein urinaler	eine urinale	ein urinales	(keine) urinalen
	genitive	eines urinalen	einer urinalen	eines urinalen	(keiner) urinalen
	dative	einem urinalen	einer urinalen	einem urinalen	(keinen) urinalen
	accusative	einen urinalen	eine urinale	ein urinales	(keine) urinalen

Further reading

• “urinal” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “urinal” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon

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Romanian

Etymology

From French urinal.

Noun

urinal n (plural urinale)

1. urinal

Declension

Declension of urinal

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) urinal	urinalul	(niște) urinale	urinalele
genitive/dative	(unui) urinal	urinalului	(unor) urinale	urinalelor
vocative	urinalule		urinalelor