laundry

English

Etymology

(deprecated template usage) From Middle English lavendrye, from Old French lavanderie, from Latin lavandaria. See launder.

Laundry (clothes in the process of being laundered) hanging on a clothesline to dry.

A laundry (room where laundering is done).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɔːn.dɹi/
  • IPA^(key): [ˈlɑn.dɹi]
• IPA^(key): /ˈlɑn.dɹi/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

Noun

laundry (countable and uncountable, plural laundries)

1. A laundering; a washing.
2. A place or room where laundering is done - including, by extension, other forms of laundering than clothes washing.
   • 1883, Henry J. Winser, The Yellowstone National Park-A Manual for Tourists‎^[1], New York: G.P. Putnam Sons, page 46:

     Old Faithful is sometimes degraded by being made a laundry. Garments placed in the crater during quiescence are ejected thoroughly washed when the eruption takes place.

3. That which needs to be, is being, or has been laundered. [from c. 1930]

   You've left your dirty laundry all over the house.

   • 1935, New York Court of Appeals. Records and Briefs., page 69:

     Q. Did you use to do the washing around your house, too? / The Court: She did all the work of the house, I suppose. / Mr. Feltenstein: That's what I want to find out. / A. I gave the laundry to the laundry. / Q. What? / A. I gave the wash to the laundry.

Synonyms

• (action): washing
• (place): lavatory, laundromat, washateria, laundrette

Derived terms

Terms derived from laundry

• dirty laundry
• laundry basket
• laundry chute
• laundryless

• laundry list
• laundry mark
• laundryman
• laundrymat

• laundrywoman

Translations

laundering; washing

• Arabic: غَسِيل m (ḡasīl)

  Moroccan Arabic: تْصبين m (tṣəbin)

• Armenian: լվացք (hy) (lvacʻkʻ)
• Bashkir: кер йыуыу (ker yıwıw)
• Belarusian: мыццё n (myccjó)
• Bulgarian: пра́не n (práne)
• Burmese: ခဝါ (my) (hka.wa)
• Catalan: bugada (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 洗衣 (zh) (xǐyī), 洗濯 (zh) (xǐzhuó)

• Czech: praní n
• Dutch: was (nl) m
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Ewe: nunyanya
• Finnish: pyykkäys, pyykkääminen (fi)
• French: blanchisserie (fr) f, blanchissage (fr) m
• German: Wäsche (de) f, Waschen (de) n
• Greek: πλύσιμο (el) n (plýsimo), μπουγάδα (el) f (bougáda)
• Hebrew: כְּבִיסָה (he) f (kvisá)
• Hungarian: mosás (hu)
• Icelandic: þvottur (is) m
• Indonesian: binatu (id)
• Italian: bucato (it) m
• Japanese: 洗濯 (ja) (せんたく, sentaku)
• Khmer: ធោវនដ្ឋាន (km) (thoovĕəʼnatthaan)
• Korean: 세탁 (ko) (setak) (洗濯 (ko)), 빨래 (ko) (ppallae)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Lao: ຮ້ານຊັກເຄື່ອງ (hān sak khư̄ang)
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Luxembourgish: Wäsch
• Macedonian: перење n (perenje)
• Norwegian: klesvask m
• Persian: رختشویی (raxtšu'i)
• Polish: pranie (pl) n
• Portuguese: lavada (pt) f, lavação f, lavagem (pt) f
• Romanian: spălare (ro) f, spălat (ro) n
• Russian: сти́рка (ru) f (stírka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: прање n

  Roman: pranje (sh) n

• Slovak: prádlo (sk) n, pranie n
• Spanish: colada (es) f, lavado (es) m
• Swedish: tvätt (sv) c
• Tagalog: paglalaba
• Thai: ซักอบรีด (sák-òp-rîit)
• Tibetan: དྲེག་འཁྲུ (dreg 'khru)
• Turkish: yıkama (tr), çamaşır yıkama
• Ukrainian: прання́ (uk) n (prannjá)
• Vietnamese: giặt giạ (vi), giặt giũ (vi)
• Walloon: bouwêye (wa) f
• Yiddish: וועש n (vesh), גרעט n (gret)

place or room where laundering is done

• Arabic: مَصْبَغَة f (maṣbaḡa), مَغْسَلَة f (maḡsala)
• Armenian: լվացքատուն (hy) (lvacʻkʻatun)
• Azerbaijani: camaşırxana
• Belarusian: пра́льня f (prálʹnja)
• Bulgarian: пера́лня f (perálnja)
• Burmese: ဒိုဘီဆိုင် (my) (duibhihcuing)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 洗衣房 (zh) (xǐyīfáng), 洗衣店 (zh) (xǐyīdiàn)

• Czech: prádelna (cs) f
• Dutch: (room) washok (nl) n; (shop or facility) wasserij (nl) f
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Faroese: vaskarí n
• Finnish: pesutupa (fi), pesula (fi)
• French: laverie (fr) f, buanderie (fr) f
• Georgian: სამრეცხაო (samrecxao)
• German: (room) Waschküche (de) f, Waschraum (de) m; (shop or facility) Wäscherei (de) f, Waschsalon m
• Greek: πλυσταριό (el) n (plystarió), πλυντήριο (el) n (plyntírio)
• Hungarian: mosoda (hu), ruhatisztító (hu), patyolat, mosókonyha (hu)
• Icelandic: þvottahús (is) n
• Ido: laverio (io)
• Indonesian: binatu (id)
• Italian: lavanderia (it) f
• Japanese: ランドリー (randorī), 洗濯屋 (せんたくや, sentakuya)
• Khmer: ធោវនដ្ឋាន (km) (tʰouvea’nattʰaan), ផ្ទះបោកអ៊ុត (pteah baok ut)
• Korean: 세탁실 (setaksil), 세탁소 (ko) (setakso)
• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latvian: mazgātava f
• Lithuanian: skalbykla f
• Luxembourgish: Wäschkichen f
• Macedonian: пералница f (peralnica)
• Maori: rūma horoi kākahu, rūma horoi
• Northern Sami: basahat
• Norwegian: vaskerom (no) n

  Bokmål: vaskeri n

  Nynorsk: vaskeri n

• Persian: رختشوی خانه (raxtšuy-xâne)
• Polish: pralnia (pl) f
• Portuguese: lavanderia (pt) f, lavandaria (pt) f, área de serviço f
• Romanian: spălătorie (ro) f, cameră de spălat f
• Russian: пра́чечная (ru) f (práčečnaja)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: праоница f, перионица f

  Roman: praonica (sh) f, perionica f

• Slovak: práčovňa f
• Slovene: pralnica f
• Spanish: lavandería f
• Swedish: tvättstuga (sv) c
• Tagalog: labanderya
• Thai: ซักอบรีด (sák-òp-rîit)
• Tibetan: དུག་ལོག་ཁྲུས་ཁང (dug log khrus khang)
• Turkish: çamaşırhane (tr)
• Ukrainian: пра́льня (uk) f (prálʹnja)
• Uzbek: kirxona (uz)
• Vietnamese: phòng giặt là, tiệm giặt là
• Walloon: rilavreye (wa) f

that which needs to be laundered

• Arabic: مَغْسَلَة m (maḡsala)

  Moroccan Arabic: تْصبين m (tṣəbin)

• Armenian: լվացք (hy) (lvacʻkʻ)
• Bashkir: кер (ker)
• Bulgarian: пра́не n (práne)
• Catalan: bugada (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 要洗的衣服 (yào xǐ de yīfu)

• Czech: prádlo (cs) n
• Danish: vasketøj (da) n
• Dutch: was (nl) m, wasgoed (nl) n
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Ewe: nunyanya
• Finnish: pyykki (fi)
• French: lessive (fr) f, linge (fr) f
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Wäsche (de) f
• Greek: άπλυτα (el) n pl (áplyta)
• Hebrew: כְּבִיסָה (he) f (kvisá)
• Hungarian: szennyes (hu), mosnivaló
• Icelandic: þvottur (is) m
• Indonesian: cucian
• Irish: níochán m
• Italian: bucato (it) m
• Japanese: 洗濯物 (ja) (せんたくもの, sentakumono)
• Khmer: សម្លៀកបំពាក់កខ្វក់ (sɑmliek bɑmpeak kɑkvɑk)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Korean: 빨랫감 (ppallaetgam), 세탁물 (setangmul)
• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Luxembourgish: Wäsch
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Navajo: hééł
• Nepali: please add this translation if you can
• Norman: lînge m
• Norwegian: skittentøy n
• Persian: رخت (fa) (raxt)
• Polish: rzeczy do prania f pl
• Portuguese: roupa suja f
• Romanian: rufe (ro) f pl, lucruri de spălat n pl, rufă (ro) f
• Russian: бельё (ru) n (belʹjó)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: рубље n

  Roman: rublje (sh) n

• Spanish: ropa sucia f, colada (es) f
• Swedish: tvätt (sv) c, smutstvätt (sv) c
• Tagalog: tubal (tl)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Tibetan: དྲི་ཕོག (dri phog), འཕྲལ་འཁྲུ ('phral 'khru)
• Turkish: çamaşır (tr)
• Vietnamese: quần áo đã giặt là
• Walloon: bouwêye (wa) f
• Yiddish: וועש n (vesh)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} lavotaĵoj, ^{(please verify)} lavitaĵoj
• Kurdish:
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} rufă (ro) f

References

• “laundry”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “laundry”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.