English

Alternative forms

• night-soil
• nightsoil

Noun

night soil ‎(uncountable)

1. (archaic, euphemistic) Human faeces.
   • 1977, Hillel I. Shuval, Water Renovation and Reuse, ISBN 9780126412505 :

     There, the night soil along with the community refuse is filled in trenches for composting and subsequent use in agriculture.

   • 2006, Mario Giampietro et al. "Can Biofuels replace Fossil Energy Fuels?" International Journal of Transdisciplinary Research, vol. 1, no. 1, p. 58:

     The flow of nitrogen from night-soil in rural China is valuable, whereas human excrement in an urban center is a pollution problem.

Translations