Clothes and linens that need to be washed or have been washed. Also refers to the place or business where washing is done.
From Old French lavanderie, derived from Latin lavare meaning 'to wash.' The word originally referred to a place where washing was done, evolving to include the items being washed themselves.
Before washing machines, public laundries called 'lavoirs' were central social hubs where communities gathered to wash clothes and share news. The phrase 'airing dirty laundry' comes from the literal practice of hanging wet clothes outside where neighbors could see everything.
Laundry work is historically feminized and unpaid domestic labor. The term carries invisible gendered labor assumptions (who does it is assumed to be women/feminine).
When discussing household labor, acknowledge it as work requiring time and energy, not an invisible gendered default. Distribute language (e.g., 'their laundry' not assuming a gender).
Laundry is gendered invisible labor; feminist labor history shows women performed ~80% of unpaid domestic textile work. Name it as work, not a gendered expectation.
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