The Etymology of Bidet
Before bidet meant a bathroom basin, it meant a small horse.βββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ French 'bidet' (a pony, a riding horse of modest size) is recorded from the 15th century, formed from the verb 'bider' (to trot). When the new hygiene fixture appeared in early 18th-century French homes, the resemblance was inescapable: the user straddled the basin as one would mount a small horse, and the existing word transferred. By 1766 English speakers had borrowed the new sense, though they did not adopt the equestrian one. In modern French both meanings survive, but the bathroom fixture has overwhelmingly dominated. It is a useful reminder that hygiene fixtures, like vehicles, are often named for the body's posture against them.