laundry

English

Etymology

From Middle English lavendrie, 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/
- (Inland Northern American) IPA^(key): [ˈlɑn.dɹi]
(Canada, cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈlɑn.dɹi/
(dialectal, obsolete) IPA^(key): /ˈlɑːn.dɹi/ (distinct from the cot-caught merger)
- Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -ɔːndɹi, -ɑndɹi

Noun

laundry (countable and uncountable, plural laundries)

A laundering; a washing.
In our family of five, we have to do the laundry every other day.
A place or room where laundering is done - including, by extension, other forms of laundering than clothes washing.
- 1883, Winser, Henry J., The Yellowstone National Park-A Manual for Tourists‎, 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.
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.
(slang, American football) A penalty flag.

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) (lvacʿkʿ)
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 (cs) 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
Galician: lavadura f, lavado 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(洗濯) (ko) (setak), 빨래 (ko) (ppallae)
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 (raxtšuyi)
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) (lvacʿkʿatun)
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
Danish: vaskeri (da) n
Dutch: (room) washok (nl) n; (shop or facility) wasserij (nl) f
Estonian: pesumaja
Faroese: vaskarí n, tváttarhús n
Finnish: pesutupa (fi), pesula (fi)
French: laverie (fr) f, buanderie (fr) f
Galician: lavandaría f
Georgian: სამრეცხაო (samrecxao)
German: (room) Waschküche (de) f, Waschraum (de) m; (shop or facility) Wäscherei (de) f, Waschsalon (de) 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
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 (es) f, cuarto de lavado m
Swedish: tvättstuga (sv) c, tvätteri n
Tagalog: labanderya
Tajik: либосшӯйхона (libosšüyxona), ҷомашӯйхона (jomašüyxona)
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) (lvacʿkʿ)
Bashkir: кер (ker)
Belarusian: бялі́зна f (bjalízna)
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
Galician: roupa sucia 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)
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)
Plautdietsch: Wausch f
Polish: rzeczy do prania f pl, bielizna (pl) f
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)
Ukrainian: біли́зна (uk) f (bilýzna)
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:
Northern Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} balav (ku) f
Romanian: ^{(please verify)} rufă (ro) f

References

laundry in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
laundry at OneLook Dictionary Search