how to say “restroom” or “the toilet” in Hebrew
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שֵׁרוּתִים, בֵּית שִׁמּוּשׁ, חֲדַר נוֹחִיּוּת
As an American, I grew up first going to the bathroom, and then to the restroom. The following symbol I first encountered in Israel.
Turns out that WC (water closet) is the international symbol for the place where people relieve themselves… well, international, excluding the States.
But although countries like Israel make life easier for tourists with such symbols, each nation and language has its own term or terms for this important room.
Hebrew’s got several.
שירותים
The most commonly-used term for what we Americans call restroom is שֵׁרוּתִים – literally, services.
– literally, services.Thus ?אֵיפֹה הַשֵּׁרוּתִים should be on your top-ten list of words to learn for your visit to Israel.
should be on your top-ten list of words to learn for your visit to Israel.בית שימוש
This term was once the main one. My father, a native of Tel Aviv, taught it to me when I was growing up in the 80’s. But once I began to spend time in Israel as a teenager in the 90’s, I discovered that שירותים had replaced the phrase that means literally, house of usage – בֵּית שִׁמּוּשׁ .
.For example:
הַמּוּנַח “בֵּית שִׁמּוּשׁ” כְּבָר אֵינוֹ בְּשִׁמּוּשׁ רַב.
The term “בית שימוש” is no longer in wide usage.
חדר נוחיות
A third term referring to the WC is חֲדַר נוֹחִיּוּת . This is a direct translation of restroom – more precisely, room of comfort.
. This is a direct translation of restroom – more precisely, room of comfort.Though there seems to be an effort online at transforming this into the colloquial term, I have yet to hear it spoken.