A bathroom is a room in which people wash their bodies or parts of their bodies. It can contain one or more of the following plumbing fixtures: a shower, a bathtub, a bidet, and a sink (also known as a washbasin in the UK). The inclusion of a toilet is common. There are also specific toilet rooms, only containing a toilet (most often accompanied by sink), which in North American English tend to be called bathrooms, powder rooms or washrooms, as euphemisms to conceal their actual purpose, while they in British and Irish English are known as just toilets or possibly cloakrooms - but also as lavatories when they are public.

Historically, bathing was often a collective activity, which took place in public baths. In some countries, the shared social aspect of cleansing the body is still important, for example with sento in Japan and, throughout the Islamic world, the hammam (also inaccurately known in The West as a Turkish bath).

The first records for the use of baths date back as far as 3000 B.C. At this time water had a strong religious value, being seen as a purifying element for both body and soul. So it was not uncommon for people to be required to cleanse themselves before entering a sacred area. Baths are recorded as part of village or town life throughout this period, with a split between steam baths in Europe and America and cold baths in Asia. Communal baths were erected in a distinctly separate area from the living quarters of the village.