Laundry Symbol Icons

The Meaning of Laundry Symbols

Proper care of your clothes helps them look great and last longer. But the laundry care symbols on your clothing label can look more like hieroglyphics than instructions! Use this guide to help decipher the meaning of common laundry symbols and take great care of your clothes.

Once you get the basics, you'll be a pro at reading clothing care symbols wherever they are found.

An infographic of three laundry care symbols, indicating what symbol means machine wash, hand wash, and do not wash An infographic of three laundry care symbols, indicating what symbol means machine wash, hand wash, and do not wash

What Do the Washing Symbols Mean?

The first set of symbols on a clothing care label refer to how to wash the item. Look for a pictogram that looks like a washing tub. Inside the tub are picture instructions for what to do.

  • Washing tub with a wavy line on top: this item can be machine washed
  • Washing tub with a hand inside: this item should be hand washed
  • Washing tub with a wavy line and an X over it: do not wash
An infographic of three laundry care symbols, indicating what symbol means indicates what temperature you should wash your clothes at, cold water, warm water, and hot water An infographic of three laundry care symbols, indicating what symbol means indicates what temperature you should wash your clothes at, cold water, warm water, and hot water

The second set of symbols that can appear inside the washing tub refer to temperature. The number of dots inside the tub symbol increase the hotter the temperature:

  • One dot: wash in cold water
  • Two dots: wash in warm water
  • Three dots: wash in hot water
An infographic of three laundry care symbols, indicating what symbol means what cycle to wash your clothes on, normal cycle, permanent press cycle, or delicate or gentle cycle An infographic of three laundry care symbols, indicating what symbol means what cycle to wash your clothes on, normal cycle, permanent press cycle, or delicate or gentle cycle

The third set of symbols that accompany the washing tub refer to the cycle or wash setting on your washing machine. These are shown by the number of lines under the washing tub symbol.

  • No lines under the tub symbol: Normal cycle
  • One line under the tub symbol: Permanent Press cycle
  • Two lines under the tub symbol: Delicate or Gentle cycle

Clothing Care Symbols for Tumble Dry

Following the washing symbols are pictograms to show you how to dry the item. The basic symbol for tumble dry in your dryer is a square with a circle inside.

An infographic of five laundry care symbols, indicating what symbol means how to dry your clothes, tumble dry, do not dry, hang to dry, dry lay flat, or do not wring. An infographic of five laundry care symbols, indicating what symbol means how to dry your clothes, tumble dry, do not dry, hang to dry, dry lay flat, or do not wring.
  • Square with a circle inside: it’s okay to tumble dry this item
  • Crossed-out square with a circle inside: do not tumble dry this item
  • Square with a curved line at the top, corner to corner: hang this item to dry
  • Square with a short straight line in the middle: lay this item flat to dry
  • Crossed-out twisted symbol: do not wring this item

Knowing what the washing symbols mean on the label of your laundry items will help maintain them as intended.

An infographic of three laundry care symbols, indicating what symbols indicate tumble dry instructions, any heat, low heat, medium heat, high heat, and no heat air dray An infographic of three laundry care symbols, indicating what symbols indicate tumble dry instructions, any heat, low heat, medium heat, high heat, and no heat air dray

Like the temperature setting dots for the washer symbols, the number of dots inside the tumble dry circle indicates what temperature is best for drying this item:

  • Empty circle: tumble dry this item on any heat
  • One dot: tumble dry on low heat
  • Two dots: tumble dry on medium heat
  • Three dots: tumble dry on high heat
  • Filled in circle: dry with no heat; air only
An infographic of three laundry care symbols depicting which symbols mean to run a normal cycle, permanent press cycle, or a delicate or gentle cycle An infographic of three laundry care symbols depicting which symbols mean to run a normal cycle, permanent press cycle, or a delicate or gentle cycle

Underneath the tumble dry symbol are lines to indicate which dryer cycle or setting to use. They are consistent with the lines used on the washing symbols:

  • No line: dry on the normal cycle
  • One line: dry on the Permanent Press cycle
  • Two lines: dry on the Delicate or Gentle cycle

Laundry Symbols for
Do Not Bleach

An infographic of three laundry care symbols, indicating if you can bleach that article of clothing or not, bleaching allowed, do not bleach, or use non-chlorine bleach An infographic of three laundry care symbols, indicating if you can bleach that article of clothing or not, bleaching allowed, do not bleach, or use non-chlorine bleach

If you're considering using bleach on an item, look for the triangle symbol on the clothing care label. Recognizing the “do not bleach” symbol will keep you from potentially permanently damaging your clothes by using chlorine bleach.

  • Open triangle: bleaching is allowed
  • Crossed out triangle: do not bleach
  • Triangle with two diagonal lines in the middle: use only non-chlorine bleach (oxygen-based bleach)

Iron Symbol on Your Clothing Label

If you're wondering whether it is safe to iron a garment, look for the ironing symbol on the label. Many garments look great freshly pressed while others can become damaged from the heat. The pictogram looks like an iron.

As with the washing and drying symbols, the number of dots inside the iron symbol indicates the temperature.

An infographic of five ironing symbols depicting which means to iron low, iron medium, iron high, do not iron, or no steam, added to iron. An infographic of five ironing symbols depicting which means to iron low, iron medium, iron high, do not iron, or no steam, added to iron.
  • One dot: item may be ironed with low heat
  • Two dots: item may be ironed with medium heat
  • Three dots: item may be ironed with high heat
  • Crossed-out iron symbol: do not iron this item
  • Crossed-out two lines extending from bottom of iron symbol: do not use steam on this item

What Does Dry Clean Only Laundry Symbol Mean?

An infographic of two laundry care symbols indicating if you can dry clean your clothes or not, dry clean and do not dry clean An infographic of two laundry care symbols indicating if you can dry clean your clothes or not, dry clean and do not dry clean

Dry cleaning is noted on the item’s care label by an open circle. If there is a letter inside of the circle, that provides further instructions to the dry cleaning service. You only need to worry about two symbols for this type of care.

  • Open circle: this item may be dry cleaned
  • Crossed-out open circle: do not dry clean this item

An item that is dry clean only will usually have the “do not wash” crossed-out washing tub symbol, followed by the open circle dry clean symbol.

 

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Always Follow the Laundry Care Symbols for Best Results

Now that you understand what all of the various laundry symbols on your care labels mean, you can be a pro at following the instructions and taking the best care of your clothes as possible. When you wash and dry your garments according to the clothing care symbols, you'll reduce your chances of shrinking, misshaping, damaging, fading or pilling your clothes.

To take the best care of your belongings, always follow the instructions on an item’s label and choose laundry detergent products designed to help properly maintain your clothes.