Picture a low, handy piece of bedroom furniture, short-legged and easy to reach, that keeps what you need right beside you. The French word it comes from simply means convenient, and that is the thread. If what you need is your clothes, it is a chest of drawers. If what you need is water for your face, it is the stand that holds the bowl and . If you cannot walk to the bathroom at night, it is the chair with a pot under the seat. From that last one, the name slid onto the bathroom fixture itself.

可以想成一件「擺著剛剛好順手」的家具。不高,腳很短,就立在床邊或牆邊。它的法文原意本來就是「方便」。所以整個字都圍著一件事轉:把你需要的東西放在手邊。要收衣物,它是矮櫃。要洗臉,它是放盆和壺的架子。半夜走不到廁所,它就是那張椅面下藏著便盆的椅子。最後連浴室裡的馬桶本身,也跟著借用了這個客氣的名字。

From the word’s history

The packet's source entry says the word was borrowed from French commode, literally convenient. That is why every meaning here is some household thing that solves a small problem close at hand.

packet 裡的來源條目寫著:這個字借自法文 commode,字面就是「方便的」。所以這裡每一個意思,都是家裡某件「就近解決一件事」的東西。

Wiktionary, "commode"

登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。