Word.ws English Dictionary

lats

/lɑːts/US/lɑts/

lats is the plural of lat.

lats is the alternative form of lat.

Meaning of lat

Noun (1)

lat (plural lats)

  1. (rare) A staff, particularly one of an Indian kind.
  2. A monumental pillar, particularly the Buddhist columns erected in East India.
    • A high pillar of stone called Bheem-lat, or the Tealee, or oilman's lat or staff.1801, “Miscellaneous Tracts”, in Asiatic Annual Register, page 313

Noun (2)

lat (plural lats)

  1. (UK, plural-normally, slang) A latrine: a rudimentary or military facility for urination and defecation.
    • At Salisbury Plain and Camberley in 1909/10 I learnt a number of camping expressions like... lats (latrines).1927, William Edward Collinson, Contemporary English, page 92

Noun (3)

lat (plural lats)

  1. (historical) The gold-backed monetary unit of Latvia from August 1922 until April 1941, when it was replaced by the Soviet ruble; it was typically pegged at about 25 to the British pound.
  2. (historical) The floating fiat monetary unit of Latvia from 1992 until January 2014, when it was replaced by the euro.
  3. A coin or bill of either currency.

See all 8 meanings of lat

Noun (1)

lats pl (normally plural, singular lat)

  1. (UK, plural, plural-normally, slang) Latrines: rudimentary or military facilities for urination and defecation.
    • At Salisbury Plain and Camberley in 1909/10 I learnt a number of camping expressions like... lats (latrines).1927, William Edward Collinson, Contemporary English, page 92
    • Other synonyms [sc. for lavatories] are rears, lats... and dubs.1940, M. Marples, Public School Slang, page 112
    Synonyms:
    bathroom

Noun (2)

IPA/læts/

lats pl (normally plural, singular lat)

  1. (plural, plural-normally, slang) The latissimus dorsi muscles.

Noun (3) capitalized: LATS

LATS (plural LATSs)

  1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of Long-acting thyroid stimulator.
  2. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme.

Noun (4) capitalized: LATs

LATs

  1. (plural) plural of LAT

Synonyms of lats

Forms of lats

singularlat
plurallati
pluralLATSs

Origin of lats

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Clipping of latrine (q.v.) + -s.

From Latvian lats, from Latvija (“Latvia”).

Words that rhyme with lats

Questions about lats

What does lats mean?
Lats means latrines: rudimentary or military facilities for urination and defecation.
What is lats the plural of?
Lats is the plural of lat.
What part of speech is lats?
Lats is a noun.
How do you pronounce lats?
Lats is pronounced /lɑːts/ (UK).
What is the plural of lats?
The plural of lats is lati.

Words near lats in the dictionary

  1. latrotoxins
  2. latrunculid
  3. latrunculids
  4. latrunculin
  5. latrunculins
  6. lats
  7. latschen
  8. Latshaw
  9. Latshaws
  10. Latson
  11. Latsons

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: lats (page history and authors); LATS (page history and authors); LATs (page history and authors); lat (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-lats.wav, En-au-lats.ogg.

Cite this entry: “lats.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lats. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.