jakes
/d͡ʒeɪks/
jakes noun: a place to urinate and defecate: an outhouse or lavatory. Also the plural of jake.
Noun
jakes (usually uncountable, plural jakeses)
- A place to urinate and defecate: an outhouse or lavatory.
- My lord, if you’ll give me leave, I will tread this unbolted villain into mortar and daub the walls of a jakes with him.c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
- […] Whereas the Truth-finder, having raked out that Jakes his own Mind, and being there capable of tracing no Ray of Divinity, nor any thing virtuous, or good, or lovely, or loving, very fairly, honestly, and logically concludes, that no such things exist in the whole Creation.1749, Henry Fielding, chapter 1, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book VI, page 269
- Synonyms:
- outhouse, bathroom, latrine, necessarium, toilet, toilet room, urinal, water closet, WC, cloaca
Proper noun capitalized: Jakes
Jakes
- A surname.
Also used as
jakes is also the plural of jake.
jakes is also the third-person singular simple present indicative of jake.
Synonyms of jakes
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
- jacques
- kocay
- siege
- cludgie
- netty
- six
- facilities
- lavatory
- lavabo
- necessary
- necessary room
- office of ease
- place
- potty
- small room
- smallest room
- throne room
- cottage
- geography
- khazi
- usual offices
- amenities
- restroom
- washroom
- comfort room
- CR
- closet of decency
- closet of ease
- house of office
- necessary place
Forms of jakes
| plural | jakeses |
|---|---|
| alternative form | jacks |
| alternative form | jacques |
| alternative form | jakes's |
| alternative form | jakeses |
Origin of jakes
From Middle English Jake (variant of “Jack”) or Jakke (variant of “Jacques” and “Jack”). Use as a place to urinate and defecate first attested in the form jacques. Compare terms such as US slang Cousin John and Quincy, used as euphemistic personifications the speaker was "visiting".
From Jake + -s (patronymic suffix).
Words formed from jakes
Phrases with jakes
Words that rhyme with jakes
Questions about jakes
- What does jakes mean?
- Jakes means a place to urinate and defecate: an outhouse or lavatory.
- What part of speech is jakes?
- Jakes can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce jakes?
- Jakes is pronounced /d͡ʒeɪks/.
- What is the plural of jakes?
- The plural of jakes is jakeses.
Words near jakes in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: jakes (page history and authors); Jakes (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-jakes.wav.
Cite this entry: “jakes.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/jakes. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.