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Glite Dictionary
to use the potty

to use the potty

2 3.0
To pee or poo in a small toilet for children while learning toilet habits
  • phrasal verb
  • /juːz ðə ˈpɑːti/
  • Baby Talk
translation icon : usar el orinal
  • Teddy is pretty good about using the potty and doesn't miss all that much.

He was trying to train his daughter to use the potty.

Examples

  • Everyone has to poop, and when they do, they use the potty.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • About a month after her third birthday, she told me she wanted to use the potty, and she did.

    Blog text (17)

  • I simply cannot imagine having to teach a child how to use the potty.

    Blog text (17)

  • My daughter started using the potty at 2 1/2.

    Blog text (17)

  • You would then encourage her to use the potty.

    Blog text (29)

  • She saw older children using the potty and decided she could too.

    Blog text (17)

  • Magically, though, one day she decided that she was done with diapers and started using the potty.

    Blog text (17)

  • Suddenly, one day right before school started, she declared she was using the potty—and that was it.

    Blog text (17)

  • She watched her 3-year-old cousin using the potty, and that was the kicker.

    Blog text (17)

  • My daughter is excited to learn how to use the potty without help.

Synonyms

to go to the bathroom
vsto use the potty
  • US
278 1.0

To use the toilet in a polite or indirect way

is child focused and used when toddlers learn to use a small seat
to use the bathroom
vsto use the potty
  • US
77 1.1

To go to the toilet to pee or poo

is aimed at young children learning to use a small training seat
to the toilet
vsto use the potty
  • NSFW
22 1.0

Go to the bathroom to pee or poo

is used for young children learning to use a small training seat
to use the washroom
vsto use the potty
  • Canadian
1 1.9

To go to a room with a toilet to pee or poo

is used for children learning to use a small training seat instead
to use the loo
vsto use the potty
  • UK
1 8.0

To go to the toilet to pee or poo

is specifically for young children learning to use a small training seat

Antonyms

to hold one's water
  • Informal
1 9.7

To keep from peeing for a while

How Polite

to use the loo
  • UK
1 8.0
to use the potty
  • Baby Talk
2 3.0
to take a piss
  • Offensive
52 9.9

Surface Forms

use the potty infinitive
used the potty past
used the potty past participle
using the potty present participle
uses the potty third person singular

Morphology

use + the + potty

The meaning 'to defecate or urinate in a child's portable toilet' is directly and compositionally built from 'use' (apply) + 'potty' (portable toddler toilet), with 'the' serving as a neutral article. This literal, everyday action is cross-linguistically common and would be immediately clear to a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.

Etymology

Use the potty comes from the small child-sized potty, a little seat or pot that children sit on to pee or poo when they are learning. So it means 'to go to the toilet' while a child is learning to use the bathroom.