laundry

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈlɔːn.dɹi/^[1]

Etymology

It is a contraction of Middle English lavendrie (late 13th century),^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French lavanderie (“wash-house”),^[2] from Vulgar Latin *lavandaria, things to be washed,^[2] from Latin lavāre, to wash.^[2] Merriam-Webster instead derives it from the obsolete launder, a launderer, with the suffix -y.^[5] See launder.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A place for washing: the late 14th century in Etymonline;^[2] the act of washing, the mid-15th century,^[2] before 1530 in the OED.^[7]

Semantic evolution

An establishment where linen is washed and got up is from 1577,^[7] and the articles that need washing, or have been washed, from 1916.^[7] It was used blunderingly for laundress in 1598.^[7] The verb, to launder, is from 1880.^[7][2] A figurative laundry, where things are disguised or altered, as money, is from 1965.^[7]

Timeline

• late 13th century – lavendrie.^[2]
• late 14th century – a place for washing.^[2]
• 1577 – a laundry establishment.^[7]
• 1880 – the verb.^[7]
• 1916 – clothes to be washed.^[7]
• 1965 – a laundry for money (figurative).^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Clothes and linen that need washing or have just been washed.
2. A business that washes and irons clothes and linen.
3. A room or area where washing is done.
4. The act of laundering.

Word family

• laundryman
• laundrywoman
• dirty laundry
• laundry list

Related words

• launder
• laundress
• lavatory
• lave

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press