The Bristol Stool Chart
Bristol Stool Chart: Seven types, one shared language. The Bristol Stool Scale is how clinicians and patients describe stool form without ambiguity. Tap any type below for a plain-English description and what it generally suggests. Nothing you tap leaves this page; there is no account and nothing is uploaded.
The seven types
Types run from hardest to loosest. The categories below the chart show how the scale is usually grouped in clinical use.
Tap a type to read what it means
Separate hard lumps
slower transitWhat it looks likeSeparate hard lumps, like nuts, that are hard to pass. Sometimes described as rabbit pellets.
What it generally suggestsStool this firm has usually spent a long time moving through the colon, where water is steadily drawn back out of it. This is the slowest end of the scale.
In clinical use, types 1–2 may suggest constipation. An occasional type 1 is common; stools like this most of the time, or with pain, straining, or blood, are worth raising with a clinician if persistent.
Lumpy sausage
slower transitWhat it looks likeSausage-shaped but lumpy, as if several hard pieces have compacted together. Usually passed with some effort.
What it generally suggestsTransit is still on the slow side. More water than usual has been absorbed on the way through, but less than with type 1.
In clinical use, types 1–2 may suggest constipation. If this is your usual pattern and it comes with bloating or discomfort, it is worth raising with a clinician if persistent.
Sausage with cracks
typical rangeWhat it looks likeShaped like a sausage, but with cracks across the surface. Formed, and normally easy to pass.
What it generally suggestsTransit time is in the typical range. Types 3 and 4 are usually treated as the middle of the scale, where stool form is neither too firm nor too loose.
Drifting between types 3, 4 and 5 from day to day is normal. Any single reading matters far less than your pattern over a week or two.
Smooth and soft
typical rangeWhat it looks likeLike a sausage or snake, smooth and soft. Passes easily, in one piece.
What it generally suggestsTransit time is in the typical range. This is the midpoint of the scale and the form most patient-education material treats as typical.
Normal covers a range, not a single type. If your usual sits at 3, 4 or 5, that is the zone clinicians generally describe as typical.
Soft blobs
typical rangeWhat it looks likeSoft blobs with clear-cut edges, passed easily. Several separate pieces rather than one formed stool.
What it generally suggestsTransit is moving a little faster than the midpoint. It sits at the loose edge of the typical range and is a common finding when fibre intake is low.
Usually nothing to act on by itself. If softer stools become your constant pattern rather than an occasional one, mention it at your next appointment.
Fluffy pieces
faster transitWhat it looks likeFluffy pieces with ragged edges; a mushy stool rather than a formed one.
What it generally suggestsTransit is fast. The colon has had less time to absorb water, so the stool stays soft and unformed.
In clinical use, types 6–7 may suggest diarrhea. A day or two of type 6 often settles on its own; if it persists, or comes with blood, fever, or signs of dehydration, it is worth raising with a clinician.
Watery
faster transitWhat it looks likeWatery, with no solid pieces at all; entirely liquid.
What it generally suggestsThe fastest end of the scale. Contents are moving through the bowel too quickly for water to be absorbed.
In clinical use, types 6–7 may suggest diarrhea. Fluid replacement matters most in the short term. If it persists beyond a few days, or comes with blood, fever, or dehydration, it is worth raising with a clinician.
Where the scale comes from
The Bristol Stool Scale, also called the Bristol Stool Form Scale, was developed at the Bristol Royal Infirmary and published in 1997 by Stephen Lewis and Ken Heaton. It classifies stool form into seven types, from separate hard lumps (type 1) to entirely liquid (type 7).
The scale was designed as a stand-in for something hard to measure directly: whole-gut transit time, meaning how long material takes to move through the digestive tract. Slower transit gives the colon more time to absorb water, so stools sit at the firm end of the scale; faster transit leaves them loose. That is why form works as a quick, free proxy for transit in both clinics and research.
How clinicians use it
Above all, the scale is a communication tool. Saying “mostly type 2 for three weeks” gives a clinician more to work with than “I think I’m constipated”, and it means the same thing to every clinician you might see. Patient materials from bodies such as the NHS and the NIDDK use it for exactly this reason.
It is not a diagnostic test. No single type on any single day diagnoses anything; what clinicians look for is the pattern over time, and whether that pattern has changed from your normal. This is also why a reading is most useful as part of a record: a bowel diary that logs type, timing and symptoms turns a vague description into something a GP or gastroenterologist can act on, and a printable diary is the paper version many clinics still hand out.
If you are here for a child rather than yourself, infant stools follow different rules entirely; see the baby poop chart for what is typical in the first year.
Log your Bristol type in three taps.
Cadence records type, timing, symptoms and foods on your Android phone, then turns the pattern into a report your clinician can actually use. On-device only: no account, no ads, no cloud.
Join the waitlistFree Plus unlock at launch.