Toilet
A toilet, seen from above: the tank and the bowl. On plumbing drawings a toilet is a water closet.
Easily confused with
How to read it
The Army's print-reading manual lists wall-hung and low-tank water closets among its plumbing fixture symbols, and notes that fixtures may be drawn as block symbols with abbreviations or as shapes close to the real fixture. The Navy's Utilitiesman course names water closets (toilets) among the fixtures shown on plans by symbols.
Also searched as: water closet, WC.
This explains what a symbol represents on a drawing. Conventions vary between firms and standards, and a drawing's own legend takes precedence.
Look-alikes
A lavatory is also an oval basin in plan, but without the tank.
Read next
- Next in Blueprint symbolsLavatory sinkA bathroom sink. On plumbing drawings a washbasin is called a lavatory.
- The same shape in African flagsFlag of the African UnionThe African Union’s flag shows a map of Africa on a green field, surrounded by rays of light and a ring of stars. The African Union says the stars, 55 of them, represent its 55 member states; the Assembly’s 2007 decision asked for a green background to symbolise Africa’s hope.
More blueprint symbols
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with circles or squares and rectangles.
Sources
- Construction Print Reading in the Field, TM 5-704 / AFM 85-27, Departments of the Army and the Air Force, para. 3-8d; fig. 3-8
- Utilitiesman Basic, NAVEDTRA 14265A, Naval Education and Training Command, U.S. Navy, ch. 1, sec. 1.3.2
- Reading Architects' Blueprints, William S. Lowndes, 1922, International Textbook Company, Scranton (Internet Archive), §6, art. 19
- Engineering Aid 3 (NAVEDTRA 14069), Nonresident training course, April 1995, Naval Education and Training Command (copy hosted by Navy Tribe), Ch. 10, drawing symbols
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed September 24, 2026. How we research
Added .