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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

stool.

A seat, especially for one person and without armrests.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/stuːl//stʉl/Northern-Ireland, Scotland

  1. A seat, especially for one person and without armrests. A seat for one person without a back or armrests.

    countable · uncountable

  2. A seat, especially for one person and without armrests. A footstool.

    countable · uncountable

  3. A seat, especially for one person and without armrests. A seat with a back; a chair.

    Scotland · countable · dialectal · uncountable

  4. A seat, especially for one person and without armrests. A throne.

    Scotland · countable · dialectal · figuratively · literally · uncountable

  5. A seat, especially for one person and without armrests. A royal seat; a chief's throne.

    Africa · West · countable · uncountable

  6. A plant that has been cut down until its main stem is close to the ground, resembling a stool, to promote new growth.

    countable · uncountable

  7. A close-stool; a seat used for urination and defecation: a chamber pot, commode, outhouse seat, or toilet.

    countable · dated · uncountable

  8. Feces; excrement.

    broadly · countable · uncountable
    I provided the doctor with stool samples.

  9. Feces; excrement. A production of feces or excrement; an act of defecation, stooling.

    broadly · countable · uncountable

  10. A small channel on the side of a vessel, for the deadeyes of the backstays.

    countable · uncountable

  11. Material, such as oyster shells, spread on the sea bottom for oyster spat to adhere to.

    US · countable · dialectal · uncountable

  12. A decoy; a portable piece of wood to which a pigeon is fastened to lure wild birds.

    archaic · countable · uncountable

  13. An informer to the police.

    countable · slang · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English stool, from Old English stōl (“chair, seat”), from Proto-West Germanic *stōl, from Proto-Germanic *stōlaz (“chair”), from Proto-Indo-European *stoh₂los (“frame, rack, stand”), from *steh₂- (“to stand”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian stuul, stölj, Stööl (“chear”), Saterland Frisian Stoul (“chear”), West Frisian stoel (“chair, seat”), Dutch stoel (“chair”), German Stuhl (“chair”), Low German Stohl (“chair”), Luxembourgish Stull (“chair”), Vilamovian śtül (“chair”), Yiddish שתוהל (shsuhl), שטול (shtul, “chair”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish stol (“chair”), Faroese stólur (“chair”), Icelandic stóll (“chair”), Crimean Gothic stul (“seat”), Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐍉𐌻𐍃 (stōls, “chair; throne”), Russian стул (stul, “chair”), Estonian tool (“chair”), Finnish tuoli (“chair”); also Breton and Cornish sevel (“to erect, rise; to build; to lift; to compose; to earn”), Irish sáil, sál (“heel”), Scottish Gaelic sàil (“heel”), Welsh sefyll (“to stand; to stop; to sit”), Latin sistō (“to set; to stop; to stand; to stabilise”), Umbrian 𐌔𐌄𐌔𐌕𐌖 (sestu, “to place”), Greek στέκω (stéko), στέκομαι (stékomai, “to stand up”), Albanian shtoj (“to add; to augment; to accumulate”), Lithuanian stálas (“table”), Old Prussian stallan (“table”), Belarusian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, and Russian стол (stol, “table”), Czech stůl (“table”), Polish stół (“table”), Serbo-Croatian сто̑, сто̑л, stȏ, stȏl (“table”), Slovak stôl (“table”), Slovene stol (“chair”), Armenian երթալ (ertʻal), էթալ (ētʻal, “to go”), Central Kurdish ستوون (stûn, “column”), Pashto ستن (stən, “needle; awl; pin; syringe; post; hand; dragonfly”), Persian ایستادن (ēstādan / istâdan), وایسادن (vâysâdan), وایستادن (vâystâdan, “to stand up; to step; to stay”), ستون (sotun / sutūn, “column”), Northern Kurdish rawestîn (“to stand up”), stûn (“column”), Ossetian стын (styn, “to stand up”), Hittite 𒋾𒄑𒍣 (tiezzi, “to step; to place oneself”), Tocharian A ṣtäm- (“to stand”), Tocharian B stäm- (“to stand”), Sanskrit तिष्ठति (tiṣṭhati, “to stand; to stay”). More at stand.

verb/stuːl//stʉl/Northern-Ireland, Scotland

  1. To produce stool: to defecate.

  2. To cut down (a plant) until its main stem is close to the ground, resembling a stool, to promote new growth.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English stool, from Old English stōl (“chair, seat”), from Proto-West Germanic *stōl, from Proto-Germanic *stōlaz (“chair”), from Proto-Indo-European *stoh₂los (“frame, rack, stand”), from *steh₂- (“to stand”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian stuul, stölj, Stööl (“chear”), Saterland Frisian Stoul (“chear”), West Frisian stoel (“chair, seat”), Dutch stoel (“chair”), German Stuhl (“chair”), Low German Stohl (“chair”), Luxembourgish Stull (“chair”), Vilamovian śtül (“chair”), Yiddish שתוהל (shsuhl), שטול (shtul, “chair”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish stol (“chair”), Faroese stólur (“chair”), Icelandic stóll (“chair”), Crimean Gothic stul (“seat”), Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐍉𐌻𐍃 (stōls, “chair; throne”), Russian стул (stul, “chair”), Estonian tool (“chair”), Finnish tuoli (“chair”); also Breton and Cornish sevel (“to erect, rise; to build; to lift; to compose; to earn”), Irish sáil, sál (“heel”), Scottish Gaelic sàil (“heel”), Welsh sefyll (“to stand; to stop; to sit”), Latin sistō (“to set; to stop; to stand; to stabilise”), Umbrian 𐌔𐌄𐌔𐌕𐌖 (sestu, “to place”), Greek στέκω (stéko), στέκομαι (stékomai, “to stand up”), Albanian shtoj (“to add; to augment; to accumulate”), Lithuanian stálas (“table”), Old Prussian stallan (“table”), Belarusian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, and Russian стол (stol, “table”), Czech stůl (“table”), Polish stół (“table”), Serbo-Croatian сто̑, сто̑л, stȏ, stȏl (“table”), Slovak stôl (“table”), Slovene stol (“chair”), Armenian երթալ (ertʻal), էթալ (ētʻal, “to go”), Central Kurdish ستوون (stûn, “column”), Pashto ستن (stən, “needle; awl; pin; syringe; post; hand; dragonfly”), Persian ایستادن (ēstādan / istâdan), وایسادن (vâysâdan), وایستادن (vâystâdan, “to stand up; to step; to stay”), ستون (sotun / sutūn, “column”), Northern Kurdish rawestîn (“to stand up”), stûn (“column”), Ossetian стын (styn, “to stand up”), Hittite 𒋾𒄑𒍣 (tiezzi, “to step; to place oneself”), Tocharian A ṣtäm- (“to stand”), Tocharian B stäm- (“to stand”), Sanskrit तिष्ठति (tiṣṭhati, “to stand; to stay”). More at stand.

verb/stuːl//stʉl/Northern-Ireland, Scotland

  1. To ramify; to tiller, as grain; to shoot out suckers.

Where this word comes from

From Latin stolo. See stolon.

noun/stuːl//stʉl/Northern-Ireland, Scotland

  1. Alternative form of stole (“plant from which layers are propagated by bending its branches into the soil; stolon.”).

    alt-of · alternative · rare
Where this word comes from

From Latin stolo. See stolon.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.