Meanings
plural Pittsburgh potties
- PennsylvaniaWesternA lone toilet, typically situated in the middle of a basement, without the amenities or privacy of a typical bathroom.
Take the Pittsburgh Potty. For recent generations it was about the shame of having a toilet with no walls becoming the pride of having a toilet with no walls.
2014 October 29, The Cleveland Anthology, Belt Publishing, →ISBN1 more example
After living nine months in the back of the store, using my Murphy bed, my garden hose as a shower, and a Pittsburgh potty in the basement, I finally moved to the apartment above my store that became available after the neighbors moved out.
2019 October 29, Steve Ford, Leanne Ford, “No Guts, No Story”, in Work in Progress: Unconventional Thoughts on Designing an Extraordinary Life, Thomas Nelson, →ISBN, page 102Synonyms: Pittsburgh toilet
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA lone toilet, typically situated in the middle of a basement, without the amenities or privacy of a typical bathroom.
Origin
From Pittsburgh + potty, so named for cities like Pittsburgh having a large number of industrial workers using these toilets to clean up when they entered their homes.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Pittsburgh potty. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Pittsburgh%20potty
“Pittsburgh potty.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Pittsburgh%20potty. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Pittsburgh potty,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Pittsburgh%20potty.
Source: Pittsburgh potty on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.