{"id":20023,"date":"2020-10-23T15:31:55","date_gmt":"2020-10-23T15:31:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=20023"},"modified":"2020-10-23T15:31:57","modified_gmt":"2020-10-23T15:31:57","slug":"sinking-basins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=20023","title":{"rendered":"Sinking Basins"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the Dutch words I learnt recently is gootsteen<\/strong> [\u02c8\u0263o\u02d0t.ste\u02d0n], which is a sink or washbasin. It comes from goot<\/em> (gutter) and steen<\/em> (stone). According to Duolingo, you might encounter a gootsteen<\/strong> in a bathroom (badkamer \/ toilet) or kitchen (keuken).<\/p>\n

A kitchen sink is a gootsteen<\/strong>, keukengootsteen<\/strong>, or aanrecht<\/strong> [\u02c8a\u02d0n.r\u025bxt], which is also a kitchen counter or counter top. Alles behalve het aanrecht<\/strong> is “everything but the kitchen sink”, a phrase that started to appear in writing in the early 20th century in newspapers and books in the USA [source<\/a>].<\/p>\n

A washbasin is also a wastafel<\/strong> (“wash-table”), wasbak<\/strong> (“wash-container”), or in Belgium a lavabo<\/strong>, from the Latin lav\u0101b\u014d<\/em> (I will wash).<\/p>\n

What does the word sink<\/strong> mean to you?<\/p>\n

How about washbasin<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

Do you have other words for these things?<\/p>\n

Are there separate words for them in other languages?<\/p>\n

To me a sink is something you would normally find in a kitchen, or a laboratory. It is often square or rectangular and relatively deep.<\/p>\n

\"Kitchen<\/a>