Unnumbered source etymology
Original entry ↗noun
Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventoryA prostitute's client. · A device or place for urination and defecation: now usually a toilet or lavatory, but also (dated) a chamber pot or outhouse. · A Western man traveling in East Asia. · A male mule.
From the male given name John (q.v.), whose ubiquity led to extensive use of the name in generic contexts. Its use for toilets derives from John and Cousin John, which both probably relate to jacques and jakes, used in equivalent senses by the British and Irish.
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Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.
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