What is the origin of the nautical term “head,” meaning “toilet”?
As early as 1485, the nautical term “Head” referred to the bow or front part of a ship. Typically, the ship’s toilet was placed at the head of the ship so that splashing water could naturally clean the toilet area (for that salty-fresh smell!). The use of the term “head” to mean toilet dates back to at least 1708, when English privateer and Governor of the Bahamas, Woodes Rogers, used the word to refer to a ship’s toilet in his book, A Cruising Voyage Around the World. Another early usage is in Tobias Smollett’s novel of travel and adventure, Roderick Random, published in 1748.
