armless and backless seat for one person. Folding stools with skin or fabric seats and solid framed stools with wood or rush seats were known to the Egyptians, the early Greeks and Romans, and the Vikings. These stools were supported on four straight legs or on four legs arranged crosswise—the “X” stool. Most variations of stool construction have been reflected either in the padded or hard top or in the support decorations.

Passing almost unchanged from antiquity into medieval use, the stool remained the common seating form. Late medieval stools, which resembled small benches, were called board, or slab-ended, stools; they were made obsolete by the standard joint stool, which was produced, in the 17th century, in upholstered sets with chairs and footstools.

The use of stools has often reflected a society's etiquette. In Europe, from the Middle Ages through the 17th century, strict protocol prescribed their use, and in Africa the stool often denotes the office of a tribal chief and carries with it religious symbolism.

By the 19th century, stools had become primarily rustic or ornamental furniture. The exception was the development of the barstool, a high stool (with or without arms and back) usually fixed to a central post and used in bars and cocktail lounges.