Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

night soil

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.39 in modern English

Syllables: night -soil
IPA

13

Scrabble Score

9

Letters

2

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

Human faeces; especially, such waste as has recently been added to an outhouse or dry closet and will need removal.

Archaic; Uncountable

Example Sentences

"There, the night soil along with the community refuse is filled in trenches for composting and subsequent use in agriculture."
"The flow of nitrogen from night-soil in rural China is valuable, whereas human excrement in an urban center is a pollution problem."
"Time for the local night soil man to appear. He left the inn to find the night man who serviced the place."

Etymology

At least notionally because such soil was removed at night by nightmen, and because chamberpots were needed especially at night (when one, in one's nightgown, might be less disposed to leave the house for the outhouse); but the general taboo around human excrement encourages euphemism, and any word in the allusive range of the night–dark–black–bad archetypes might serve as well as another for the purpose; thus, compare blackwater.

Usage

Inflected Forms

night-soil (alternative) nightsoil (alternative)

Derived Forms

nightsoiler

Phrases

night soil man

Frequently Paired Words

nightman poudrette

Questions

What does night soil mean?: Human faeces; especially, such waste as has recently been added to an outhouse or dry closet and will need removal.
Where does night soil come from?: At least notionally because such soil was removed at night by nightmen, and because chamberpots were needed especially at night (when one, in one's nightgown, might be less disposed to leave the house for the outhouse); but the general taboo around human excrement encourages euphemism, and any word in the allusive range of the night–dark–black–bad archetypes might serve as well as another for the purpose; thus, compare blackwater.

How to pronounce night soil

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “night soil”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
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