Late Middle English, from Anglo-Norman cotage and Medieval Latin cotagium, from fro-nor cot, cote ("hut, cottage") + -age ("surrounding property"), from Proto-Germanic *kutan, *kuta- ("shed"), probably of non-Indo-European origin, possibly borrowed from urj -; compare Finnish kota and Hungarian ház, both from fiu-pro -/urj-pro *kota.

Old Northern French cote is probably from Old Norse kot, cognate of Old English cot of same Proto-Germanic - origin.

Slang sense “public toilet” from 19th century, due to resemblance.

• (RP) IPA: /ˈkɒtɪd͡ʒ/
• (America) IPA: /ˈkɑtɪd͡ʒ/, [ˈkɑɾɪd͡ʒ]
  • (weak vowel) IPA: /ˈkɑtəd͡ʒ/, [ˈkɑɾəd͡ʒ]

cottage (plural cottages)

1. A small house.

   Synonyms: cot, hut

2. A seasonal home of any size or stature, a recreational home or a home in a remote location.

   Most cottages in the area were larger and more elaborate than my home.

   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC ↗:

     Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’ and if you don't look out there's likely to be some nice, lively dog taking an interest in your underpinning.”

3. (UK, slang, archaic) A public lavatory.

   Synonyms: Thesaurus:bathroom

4. (Polari) A meeting place for homosexual men.

   Synonyms: gingerbread office, tea room, tearoom, teahouse, tea house

• cosset
• cot
• coterie

• French: cottage
• German: Cottage, Häuschen, Kotten
• Italian: casolare, rustico
• Portuguese: chalé
• Russian: (shack) хи́жина
• Spanish: chalet

cottage (cottages, present participle cottaging; simple past and past participle cottaged)

1. To stay at a seasonal home, to go cottaging.
2. (intransitive, Polari, of men) To have homosexual sex in a public lavatory; to practice cottaging.

1. A twp in Saline County, Illinois.
2. An ucomm in Macon County, Missouri.
3. A village in Rivière du Rempart District, Mauritius.