bathe

See also: bathë, Bathe, and Bathé

English

Etymology

From Middle English bathen, from Old English baþian (“to bathe, wash”), from Proto-West Germanic *baþōn, from Proto-Germanic *baþōną (“to bathe”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₁- (“to warm”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian boadje (“to bathe”), Dutch baden (“to bathe”), German Low German baden (“to bathe”), German baden (“to bathe”), Danish bade (“to bathe”), Swedish bada (“to bathe”), Icelandic baða (“to bathe”). More at bath. Compare also bask.

Pronunciation

• enPR: bāth, IPA^(key): /beɪð/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪð

Verb

bathe (third-person singular simple present bathes, present participle bathing, simple past and past participle bathed)

1. (intransitive) To clean oneself by immersion in water or using water; to take a bath, have a bath.
2. (intransitive) To immerse oneself, or part of the body, in water for pleasure or refreshment; to swim.
3. (transitive) To clean a person by immersion in water or using water; to give someone a bath.

   We bathe our baby before going to bed; other parents do it in the morning if they have time.

4. (transitive) To apply water or other liquid to; to suffuse or cover with liquid.

   She bathed her eyes with liquid to remove the stinging chemical.

   The nurse bathed his wound with a sponge.

   The incoming tides bathed the coral reef.

   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XXXII, page 51:

     All subtle thought, all curious fears,
     ⁠Borne down by gladness so complete,
     ⁠She bows, she bathes the Saviour’s feet
     With costly spikenard and with tears.

   • 1956, Anthony Burgess, Time for a Tiger (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 22:

     Vorpal, eupeptically bubbling greetings, bathed a sausage in a swimming plate of sauce.

5. (figuratively, transitive and intransitive) To cover or surround.

   The room was bathed in moonlight.

   A dense fog bathed the city streets.

   • 2011 April 10, Alistair Magowan, “Aston Villa 1 - 0 Newcastle”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     Although the encounter was bathed in sunshine, the match failed to reach boiling point but that will be of little concern to Gerard Houllier's team, who took a huge step forward before they face crucial matches against their relegation rivals.

6. (intransitive) To sunbathe.

   The women bathed in the sun.

Derived terms

• batheable
• bather
• bathers ("swimsuit" in parts of Australia)
• bebathe
• dustbathe
• embathe
• firebathe
• forbathe
• imbathe
• moonbathe
• overbathe
• rebathe
• sandbathe
• starbathe
• sunbathe
• sunbather

 

Related terms

• bath

Translations

to clean oneself with water

• Aklanon: ligos
• Albanian: bën banjë
• Arabic: اِسْتَحَمَّ (istaḥamma), اِغْتَسَلَ (iḡtasala)
• Armenian: լողանալ (hy) (loġanal)
• Aromanian: ascaldu
• Assamese: গা ধো (ga dhü), নোৱা (nüa)
• Azerbaijani: çimmək (az), çimmək (az)
• Belarusian: купа́цца impf (kupácca)
• Bikol Central: karigos (bcl)
• Bulgarian: къпя се (bg) impf (kǎpja se)
• Burmese: ရေချိုး (my) (rehkyui:)
• Catalan: banyar-se
• Cebuano: ligo
• Chinese:

  Hokkien: 洗浴 (zh-min-nan) (sé-e̍k, sóe-e̍k)

  Mandarin: 沐浴 (zh) (mùyù), 洗浴 (zh) (xǐyù)

• Czech: koupat se impf
• Danish: bade (da)
• Dutch: zich baden (nl), zich wassen (nl)
• Esperanto: (sin) bani, baniĝi
• Estonian: suplema
• Faroese: baða
• Finnish: kylpeä (fi), peseytyä (fi)
• French: prendre un bain
• Galician: bañarse (gl)
• Georgian: ბანაობა (banaoba), დაბანვა (dabanva)
• German: sich baden (de), sich waschen (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: λούομαι (loúomai)

• Higaonon: langoy
• Hindi: स्नान करना (snān karnā)
• Hungarian: fürdik (hu), megfürdik (hu), lefürdik (hu), mosdik (hu), megmosdik (hu), lemosdik (hu), mosakszik (hu)
• Icelandic: baða (is)
• Ido: balnar (io)
• Ilocano: agdigos
• Indonesian: mandi (id)
• Isnag: dixut
• Italian: farsi il bagno, lavarsi (it)
• Japanese: 浴びる (ja) (あびる, abiru), 入浴する (にゅうよく-する, nyūyoku-suru)
• Javanese: adus (jv)
• Jeju: ᄀᆞᆷ다 (gawmda)
• Khmer: ងូត (km) (nguut), ងូតទឹក (nguut tɨk)
• Korean: 목욕하다 (ko) (mogyokhada)
• Lao: ອາບ (ʼāp), ອາບນ້ຳ (ʼāp nam)
• Latin: lavo (la), alluo, alluo (of sea), perluo
• Latvian: peldēties
• Lithuanian: maudytis
• Lombard: bagnà (lmo)
• Macedonian: се капе impf (se kape)
• Maguindanao: maigo
• Malay: mandi (ms)
• Manchu: ᡝᠪᡳᡧᡝᠮᠪᡳ (ebišembi), ᡝᠯᠪᡳᡧᡝᠮᠪᡳ (elbišembi)
• Maori: kaukau
• Maranao: igo'
• Middle English: bathen, bethen
• Nanai: элбусиури (elbusiuri)
• Navajo: naashbé
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: bade (no)

  Nynorsk: bada, bade

• Occitan: banhar (oc)
• Persian: حمام کردن (hammâm kardan)
• Polish: kąpać się (pl) impf
• Portuguese: banhar (pt)
• Quechua: armay
• Romanian: a face baie (ro), a se spăla (ro)
• Russian: купа́ться (ru) impf (kupátʹsja), мы́ться (ru) impf (mýtʹsja)
• Sanskrit: स्नाति (sa) (snāti), उनत्ति (sa) (unatti)
• Sardinian: bagnare
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: купати се impf

  Roman: kupati se (sh) impf

• Slovak: kúpať sa impf, okúpať sa
• Slovene: kopati se (sl) impf
• Spanish: bañarse (es)
• Swahili: -oga (sw)
• Swedish: bada (sv)
• Sylheti: ꠉꠣ ꠗꠀ (ga dóa), ꠘꠣꠀꠘꠤ (naani)
• Tagalog: maligo
• Tamil: குளி (ta) (kuḷi)
• Telugu: స్నానమాడు (te) (snānamāḍu)
• Thai: อาบ (th) (àap), อาบน้ำ (th) (àap-náam)
• Tocharian B: nāsk-
• Turkish: banyo yapmak (tr), çimmek (tr), yunmak (tr), yıkanmak (tr)
• Ukrainian: купа́тися impf (kupátysja)
• Venetan: bagnar (vec)
• Vietnamese: tắm (vi), tắm rửa (vi), tắm gội (vi), rửa ráy (vi)
• White Hmong: da dej
• Yiddish: באָדן זיך (bodn zikh)
• Yoruba: wẹ̀
• Yucatec Maya: ichkíil

to immerse oneself in water

• Azerbaijani: çimmək (az)
• Bikol Central: karigos (bcl)
• Finnish: kylpeä (fi)
• French: se baigner (fr)
• Galician: bañarse (gl)
• Georgian: ბანაობა (banaoba)
• German: baden (de)
• Hungarian: fürdik (hu), fürdőzik (hu), csobban (hu), mártózik (hu), megmártózik (hu), strandol (hu), úszik (hu)
• Kazakh: шомылдыру (şomyldyru)
• Maori: whakaruku
• Navajo: naashbé
• Russian: купа́ться (ru) impf (kupátʹsja)
• Slovak: kúpať sa
• Spanish: bañar (es)
• Thai: อาบ (th) (àap)
• Tocharian B: nāsk-
• Turkish: çimmek (tr), yunmak (tr), yıkanmak (tr)
• Vietnamese: ngâm (vi)
• Yiddish: באָדן זיך (bodn zikh)

to clean a person by immersion in water

• Aragonese: bañar
• Azerbaijani: çimizdirmək
• Belarusian: купа́ць impf (kupácʹ)
• Bikol Central: karigos (bcl)
• Catalan: banyar (ca)
• Cherokee: ᎦᏬᎠ (gawoa)
• Danish: bade (da)
• Esperanto: bani (eo)
• Finnish: kylvettää (fi)
• French: faire prendre un bain, baigner (fr)
• Galician: bañar (gl)
• Georgian: დაბანვა (dabanva)
• German: baden (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: λούω (loúō)

• Hungarian: fürdet (hu), füröszt (hu)
• Indonesian: memandikan (id)
• Italian: fare il bagno
• Japanese: 浴びせる (ja) (あびせる, abiseru)
• Kazakh: шомылдыру (şomyldyru)
• Maori: whakakaukau
• Middle English: bathen
• Ossetian: найын (najyn)
• Polish: kąpać (pl) impf
• Portuguese: banhar (pt)
• Quechua: armakuy, armachiy
• Romanian: a face baie (ro) (cuiva), spăla (ro)
• Russian: купа́ть (ru) impf (kupátʹ)
• Slovak: kúpať, okúpať
• Spanish: bañar (es)
• Swedish: bada (sv)
• Thai: อาบน้ำ (th) (àap-náam)
• Turkish: banyo yaptırmak, çimdirmek (tr), yıkamak (tr)
• Ukrainian: купа́ти impf (kupáty)
• Vietnamese: tắm (vi), tắm gội (vi), tắm rửa (vi), rửa ráy (vi)
• Western Bukidnon Manobo: diɣu'
• Yiddish: באָדן (bodn), אויסבאָדן pf (oysbodn)

to apply water to

• Finnish: kastaa (fi), kastella (fi); kostuttaa (fi) (using only small amount of liquid)
• French: baigner (fr)
• Galician: lavar (gl), limpar (gl)
• German: waschen (de)
• Hungarian: öblít (hu), leöblít (hu), öblöget (hu), kimos (hu), kiöblít (hu)
• Indonesian: membasuh (id)
• Middle English: bathen
• Slovak: umyť, umývať, omyť, omývať
• Spanish: lavar (es)

to cover or surround

• Finnish: peittää (fi) (transitive); peittyä (fi), kylpeä (fi) (intransitive)
• French: baigner (fr)
• Galician: bañar (gl), cubrir (gl), inundar (gl), rodear (gl)
• German: baden (de)
• Hungarian: ellep (hu), eláraszt (hu), borít (hu), beborít (hu), áztat (hu), beburkol (hu), füröszt (hu)
• Indonesian: bermandikan (id)
• Slovak: zaplaviť, zaplavovať

to sunbathe — see sunbathe

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Greenlandic: baaliarpoq
• Hebrew: התרחץ (he) (hitrakhéts)
• Hungarian: fürdik (hu)
• Ido: balnar (io)
• Indonesian: mandi (id)
• Irish: folc
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: خۆ شوشتن (xo şuştin)

• Swahili: kuoga
• Tagalog: maligo
• Telugu: స్నానం చేయు (snānaṁ cēyu)

Noun

bathe (plural bathes)

1. (British, colloquial) The act of swimming or bathing, especially in the sea, a lake, or a river; a swimming bath.

   I'm going to have a midnight bathe tonight.

   • 1885, Mrs. Forrester, “Retribution”, in Although He Was a Lord and Other Tales (Collection of British Authors, Tauchnitz Edition; volume 2327), Leipzig: [Christian] Bernhard Tauchnitz, page 140:

     I do not feel disposed to ask any questions, but devote myself entirely to the Governoress, who takes me over to the bathing-house in her boat. I have had my bathe, and am strolling along the sands, waiting for the Countess.

Translations

act of bathing

• Belarusian: купа́нне n (kupánnje)
• Danish: bad (da) n
• Faroese: bað n
• Finnish: kylpy (fi)
• French: baignade (fr) f, (in compound words or expressions) bain (fr) m
• German: Bad (de) n
• Hungarian: fürdés (hu), fürdőzés (hu), csobbanás (hu), mártózás, strandolás (hu), úszás (hu)
• Icelandic: bað (is) n
• Norwegian: bad (no) n
• Russian: купа́ние (ru) n (kupánije)
• Serbo-Croatian: купање n, kupanje (sh) n
• Slovak: kúpeľ, kúpanie
• Swedish: bad (sv) n
• Ukrainian: купа́ння n (kupánnja)

Anagrams

• beath, Habte, behat

Middle English

Etymology 1

Determiner

bathe

1. (Northern) Alternative form of bothe (“both”)

Pronoun

bathe

1. (Northern) Alternative form of bothe (“both”)

Conjunction

bathe

1. (Northern) Alternative form of bothe (“both”)

Etymology 2

Verb

bathe

1. Alternative form of bathen