抽水马桶

抽水馬桶
chōushuǐmǎtǒng
noun #34,409

Measure Word

Meanings

  1. 1 flush toilet

Examples

Xīn fángzi zhuāng de shì chōushuǐ mǎtǒng.
The new house has a flush toilet installed.
Chōushuǐ mǎtǒng huài le, xiū yíxià ba.
The flush toilet is broken — please get it fixed.

Tips

memory
抽水 'pull water / pump water' + 马桶 'toilet' — the 'water-pumping toilet', i.e. the modern flushing kind, as opposed to a chamber pot. Plain 马桶 alone is also fine in everyday speech.
culture
马桶 originally meant a wooden chamber pot — folk etymology says 'bucket' was prefaced with because the bucket was as broad as a horse's belly. With plumbing, 抽水马桶 became the proper term in technical/sales contexts; everyday speech keeps it short.

Stroke Order

chōu
shuǐ
tǒng