# outhouse



## stephie_2121

Hello,

I was wondering how to say outhouse, as in an outdoor toilette.

Thank you.

Moderator's note: several threads have been merged to create this one.


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## Jnsp

im pretty sure it's 'Édicule'


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## stephie_2121

Thank you.


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## Severine_

Bonjour,

quelle est selon vous la traduction du mot "outhouse" ?

merci bcp  



*Séverine*


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## Missrapunzel

Bienvenue sur le forum, Séverine! Tu veux peut-être nous donner un peu de contexte et ton propre essai de traduction, stp? Merci!


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## olliemae

An outhouse is a toilet which is separate from the house.  Latrine à fosse simple.  
See wikipedia:
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latrine_%C3%A0_fosse_simple


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## Severine_

je traduis un texte de Dermot Bolger, extrait de 'The Valparaiso Voyage' (2001).

le personnage principal est un enfant qui décrit une pièce de la maison apparemment;la phrase dans son contexte n'aide pas a trouver la traduction..

j'ai trouvé sur un site que ce serait en qque sorte des toilettes ?..
"a small building containing a seat over a hole that is used as a toilet, used esp. by people who live in houses that do not have water moving in pipes "


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## olliemae

"Latrine à fosse simple" ne convient pas?  It's a little long, maybe there's a better word for it in French.


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## Severine_

je te remercie pour cette traduction, je vais chercher si "latrine" tout court peut convenir!


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## olliemae

As long as "latrine" makes it clear that it's separate from the house, not a flushing toilet, etc., then is should work.  I'm not familiar enough with French toilet terminology to say.


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## Léa123

Toilettes extérieures pourrait peut être marcher. Latrines (avec un s) tout court ne veut pas forcément dire que ces toilettes sont à l'extérieur. 

Selon mon dico, "outhouse" peut également vouloir dire "dépendance" ou "appentis" selon le contexte.


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## pyan

Léa123 said:


> Toilettes extérieures pourrait peut être marcher. Latrines (avec un s) tout court ne veut pas forcément dire que ces toilettes sont à l'extérieur.
> 
> Selon mon dico, "outhouse" peut également vouloir dire "dépendance" ou "appentis" selon le contexte.


According to my dictionary "outhouse" for a toilet separate from the house is primarily American usage, and with the same meaning as "dépendance" is British.  But I must say that the first thing that came into my head was a toilet outside the main building.


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## Severine_

salut, simplement pour vous tenir au courant: j'ai eu la correction de cette traduction, la prof nous a dit qu'en fait dans ce contexte outhouse voulait dire "cabane".

voila,merci pour vos messages!

bonne journée


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## cash13579

Hi everyone.
I recently had a conversation with a man from Montreal and we were talking about an outhouse that was going to arrive later in the week. He gave me a word that sounded like "becosse" (?) as the French "slang" translation for out door toilet. I wanted to use this conversation as an example for something in school...and I wanted to make sure that it wouldn't translate into something completely inappropriate. Can anyone help me out? I'm having trouble finding anything on my own. Thank you!


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## Kelly B

Welcome! 
You'll find a discussion of this word here: la bécosse - forum Français Seulement. 

If you'd like to know whether you can use bécosse in a particular sentence, perhaps you can tell us what the sentence is (please give us the English sentence, then your proposed translation.)


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## cash13579

Thank you! That was really helpful! I use this site often for school (I'm a French Immersion student), but I've never posted before and I'm really appreciative of your help.


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## Albert 50

Hi Cash

You won't  find "bécosse"  in the dictionary.  It's  a word  used by French-speaking Canadians and is,  in effect,  an anglicism, and not  "slang" in the  truest sense.   In the days when people didn't have indoor plumbing and personal  needs were fulfilled in the  "little house" in the back-yard,  many  French-speakers took the  English  word  "back-house"  (the little house in the "back-yard")  and created the word "bécosse".

I was raised in a small French-speaking village in  Western Canada and most people didn't have an inside  bathrom when I was a child, just  "la petite cabane"  out in the yard.  Everyone used the word  "bécosses" to refer to this outdoor toilet.  Most people used it in the plural  ("Il faut que j'aille aux bécosses")  though some people used it in the singular  (Il faut que j'aille à la bécosse...).  It is not an offensive term at all  -  my mother and my grand-mother used the word commonly and I was taught to use it as a small child...

Some people in Canada still use the word and apply it now to an indoor bathroom.   Hope this helps...

Amicalement
Albert


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## cash13579

Thanks! I'm glad to find out that it's just an angilicism, and not something offensive. I've met many French-Canadians who don't take things quite as...well let's say "literally" as some, so you understand if I was a little cautious.


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## Liliane du Nord

Comment dit-on "outhouse" ?  J'habite en Alaska où il y a souvent des cabanes (ou des maisons en village) qui n'ont pas de toilettes à l'intérieur.  C'est un petit batiment, avec... une planche avec un trou pour y faire pipi.
Merci!


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## ZONGO

"Les toilettes au fond du jardin"? If you want to put an ounce of irony to it you could probably talk about "les dépendances"


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## SwissPete

Here is a wiki article, with a nice picture...


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## charlantoine

Cabanon, édicule, ouatères, vécés, chiottes. Tout dépend du contexte et du style.


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## dicomec

En la vieille France, l'on les appellait : pissoir.  Les anciens pissoirs ont disparu de nos jours, et maintenant, l'on y trouve d'autres toilettes publiques—et fermées par habitude.  Tant pis pour nous.


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## FanduCanadien

Au Québec, on dit les bécosses.


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## youngneil

I have learnt the word "édicule" thanks to Jnsp and this Wordreference thread! 

But my French-from-France dictionary explains an "édicule" is a small construction, particularly a toilet, built in a public passage.

I do not know if a "outhouse" can evoke such a thing, but for those who look for a translation of the outdoor private toilet, "édicule" won't fit. _Except maybe in Canadian French?_

My two cents!


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## Quaeitur

I've always heard _*toilettes au fond du jardin*_ or *toilettes au fond de la cour *for outhouse. The former, more in the countryside, and the later in cities.


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## Raffa.English

Hello.
I agree with *youngneil*: édicule is used for a small public construction; it would never be used in French in this context. Use Quaeitur's standard suggestions or variants such as: 
"les cabinets au fond du jardin / dans la cour"; "la cabane au fond du jardin" would be understood by all as well (cf. Cabrel).


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## HerbertX

Voici ce que dit le Petit Larousse :

édicule 

 1. Petite construction placée sur la  voie publique (Abribus, toilettes, etc.). 

2. Construction secondaire, bâtiment  en réduction à l'intérieur ou au sommet d'un édifice.


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## CarlosRapido

On prête beaucoup de torts au français du Canada...

*Édicule *n'est pas plus usité au Canada qu'en France et le sens est le même. On entend surtout 'bécosse' au Canada, une déformation de l'anglais '_back house_', mais le terme qu'on m'a enseigné à l’école c'est tout simplement 'toilette extérieure'.


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## mirifica

Bonjour,

- toilettes publiques (en ville)
- toilettes à l'extérieur (particuliers)


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