bidet

Borrowed from French bidet.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbiːdeɪ/
  • Rhymes: -iːdeɪ
  • Homophone: b-day
• (US) IPA^(key): /bɪˈdeɪ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

  • Rhymes: -eɪ

bidet (plural bidets)

1. A low-mounted plumbing fixture or type of sink intended for washing the external genitalia and the anus.
2. (obsolete) A small horse formerly allowed to each trooper or dragoon for carrying his baggage.
   • 1631, Ben Jonson, Chloridia:

     For joy of which I will return to myself, mount my bidet in a dance

• betid, bited, debit

Borrowed from French bidet.

• IPA^(key): [ˈbɪdɛt]
• Hyphenation: bi‧det

bidet m inan

1. bidet

• “bidet”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “bidet”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

From Middle French bider (“to trot”), of unknown ultimate origin, +‎ -et. Possibly related to Medieval Italian bidetto (“small horse”),^[1] itself probably related to Proto-West Germanic *biti (“bite; horse's bit”);^[2] or, possibly from a lost Middle French rabider (“go quickly, violently”), a descendant of Latin rabidus (“furious, fierce”), with loss of the initial prefix.^[3]

Modern sense derives from analogy with the straddling of a bidet and the straddling of a small horse.^[4]

• IPA^(key): /bi.dɛ/

• Audio:

  (file)

bidet m (plural bidets)

1. pony, small horse
2. bidet

• → Greek: μπιντές (bintés)
• → Polish: bidet
• → Portuguese: bidê, bidé (Portugal)
• → Persian: بیده (bide)
• → English: bidet (see there for further descendants)

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

• débit

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

bidet m (plural bidets)

1. (Jersey) pony
2. (Jersey) bidet

• (pony): pônîn, p'tit j'va

Borrowed from French bidet. First attested in 1819.^[1]

• IPA^(key): /ˈbi.dɛt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -idɛt
• Syllabification: bi‧det

bidet m inan (diminutive bidecik)

1. bidet (low-mounted plumbing fixture for cleaning the genitalia and anus)

• bidet in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• bidet in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Derived from French bidet.

• IPA^(key): [ˈbidet]

bidet m inan (relational adjective bidetový)

1. bidet

• “bidet”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2025

• IPA^(key): /biˈdet/ [biˈð̞et̪]
• Rhymes: -et
• Syllabification: bi‧det

bidet m (plural bidets)

1. alternative form of bidé

• Manuel Seco, Olimpia Andrés, Gabino Ramos (3 August 2023) “bidet”, in Diccionario del español actual [Dictionary of Current Spanish] (in Spanish), third digital edition, Fundación BBVA [BBVA Foundation]
• bidet | Diccionario • DELE Ahora