I just came across a sentence that used `男子トイレ` and `女子トイレ` and it got me
wondering. What is the difference (if there is one) between the `男子トイレ` and
the `男性トイレ`, and of course between the `女子トイレ` and the `女性トイレ`.

In English I would say the "men's room" and "boys' room" are, for the most
part, interchangeable, but I wouldn't use "men's" to refer to a bathroom in a
primary school, or use "boys'" in a formal setting.

If I had to guess I would say that this is the case in Japanese as well, or if
not it was simply a change in the degree of formality.
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2014-01-09T04:48:28.163
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2016-12-27T16:39:34.373
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question
word-choice
What are the conventions for refering to male VS female トイレ?
For a bathroom in a school, college or university, I think we use 男子/女子トイレ. I
don't think we normally say 男性/女性トイレ to refer to a school bathroom. I think
both 男子/女子トイレ and 男性/女性トイレ are used for a bathroom in other places like a
train station, company, department store etc...
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2014-01-09T07:48:45.970
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answer
Come to think of it, I used to live near a train station where, in front of
the washrooms in the station, there was an announcement on repeat to help
blind people find the washroom, and it used 男子・女子 トイレ, rather than 男性・女性. So,
I guess that's a data point for you, perhaps 男性・女性 are just not commonly used?
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2016-12-27T15:50:01.290
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answer