xylospongium

UK/ˌzaɪləʊˈspʌnd͡ʒi.əm/US/ˌzaɪloʊˈspʌnd͡ʒi.əm/

xylospongium noun: a Greek and Roman utensil consisting of a sea sponge fixed to the end of a wooden stick, typically thought to have been used for anal hygiene or as a toilet brush.

Image: Dickson. Herdemerten ( Hannibal21 ), CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

xylospongium (plural xylospongia or xylospongiums)

A Greek and Roman utensil consisting of a sea sponge fixed to the end of a wooden stick, typically thought to have been used for anal hygiene or as a toilet brush.

Synonyms:

tersorium, sponge on a stick

Synonyms of xylospongium

tersorium
sponge on a stick

Forms of xylospongium

plural	xylospongia
plural	xylospongiums

Origin of xylospongium

From Latin xylospongium, from Ancient Greek ξῠλοσπόγγῐον (xŭlospóngĭon), diminutive of ξῠλόσπογγος (xŭlóspongos). By surface analysis, xylo- (“wood”) + sponge.

Questions about xylospongium

What does xylospongium mean?: Xylospongium means a Greek and Roman utensil consisting of a sea sponge fixed to the end of a wooden stick, typically thought to have been used for anal hygiene or as a toilet brush.
What part of speech is xylospongium?: Xylospongium is a noun.
How do you pronounce xylospongium?: Xylospongium is pronounced /ˌzaɪləʊˈspʌnd͡ʒi.əm/ (UK).
What is the plural of xylospongium?: The plural of xylospongium is xylospongia.

Words near xylospongium in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: xylospongium (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: 2026-09-02

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