Meanings
plural sculleries
- archaicA small room, next to a kitchen, where washing up and other domestic chores are done.
Opposite the signal the line on one side is shut in by a high blank wall; on the other side are houses, but coming below the butt-end of a scullery the signal does not happen to be visible from any road or from any window.
1914, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados1 more example
With the ring of light from his lantern dancing from side to side, he lurched across the yard, kicked off his boots at the back door, drew himself a last glass of beer from the barrel in the scullery, and made his way up to bed, where Mrs. Jones was already snoring.
1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC
Origin
- Latinscutella
- Anglo-Normansquillerie“office of the servant in charge of plates”
- Middle Englishsquylerie
- Englishscullery
Inherited from Middle English squylerie, from Anglo-Norman squillerie (“office of the servant in charge of plates”), from escuele (“bowl, dish”), from Latin scutella.
More words from Middle English, Anglo-Norman, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian черна кухня
- черна кухня (černa kuhnja)room, next to a kitchen
Danish bryggers, grovkøkken
- bryggersroom, next to a kitchen
- grovkøkkenroom, next to a kitchen
Dutch bijkeuken, spoelkeuken
- bijkeukenroom, next to a kitchen
- spoelkeukenroom, next to a kitchen
- waskeukenroom, next to a kitchen
Finnish kodinhoitohuone, apukeittiö
- kodinhoitohuoneroom, next to a kitchen
- apukeittiöroom, next to a kitchen
French arrière-cuisine, souillarde
- arrière-cuisineroom, next to a kitchen
- souillarderoom, next to a kitchen
German Spülküche, Spülkammer
- Spülkücheroom, next to a kitchen
- Spülkammerroom, next to a kitchen
- Scheuerbankroom, next to a kitchen
- Sudelkücheroom, next to a kitchen
Polish zmywalnia
- zmywalniaroom, next to a kitchen
Russian судомо́йня
- судомо́йня (sudomójnja)room, next to a kitchen
Spanish trascocina
- trascocinaroom, next to a kitchen
Turkish bulaşıkhâne
- bulaşıkhâneroom, next to a kitchen
Cite this entry
scullery. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scullery
“scullery.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scullery. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “scullery,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scullery.
Source: scullery on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.